Kyo's Cards
by Azael
Summary: When Kyo finds links to the supernatural, he finds himself with a lot more than he thought he'd get, and enough injuries to make his family suspicious. Add a horny cousin, celestial beings and creepy exchange students, and you have Kyo's life UPDATED!
1. Prolouge

This is my first attempt at writing a fic, much less a Fruits basket one. I haven't seen much of the series, so don't blame me if I get the layout wrong or anything. 

This will eventually be a Yuki x Kyo fic, and obviously it's my first time at writing anything like it.

This will also eventually be a blatent cross over with Card Captor Sakura, and will take place when Sakura is a few years younger than Kyo.

Oh yes, and I also know that Kyo sounds a little more mature than usual, but it's hard to convey the message that I want to unless I can use the vocabulary that I want to.

Disclaimer: I own neither Fruits Basket nor Card Captors, nor do I claim to. 

_"Kyo."_

The voice sounds on the edge of my consciousness, rousing me out of my sleep slightly.

I snuggle tighter into a ball and ferret my chin closer to my fists, which grips some of the sheets.

_"Kyo,"_ the voice says again, neither male nor female, but a light combination of the two. _"I know you now."_

With that I come fully into my senses, and stare at the ceiling above. It is still dark outside my window, and a cricket chirps fitfully in the night. I am wide-awake now. The trees sigh with the wind, and something taps on the roof. One of its brethren join it, and soon there is water streaming off the eaves of the roof to mingle with the rain that they had come from. 

The particular smell of rain gently comes into to my senses, and I realise that I am not going to sleep again that night.

_9.10.2002 2.23 AM_

_I think I'm going insane. I heard someone talking to me, but there wasn't anyone around._

_Or, it could have just been a dream, see, I was half-asleep at the time. Aw, fuck it. It's probably just nothing. I don't even know why I'm bothering to write this down._

_I should probably try to sleep again now, but I doubt anything'll happen._

"KYO!"

This time the voice isn't nearly so peaceful. I close my little book and place it in the pile of books next to my desk. It is plain, like one of my schoolbooks, and the lable reads 'English Vocab'. Needless to say, I rarely use it, so it is the perfect place to write when I needed to.

"COMING!"

I come downstairs at about 100 miles an hour after glancing at my clock, and screech into the kitchen. The breakfast things have all been cleared away, and Tohru iss finishing the dishes.

"What?! You ate without me?!"

Tohru looks instantly apologetic. "I'm sorry Kyo-kun, we tried to wake you but…"

"What do you mean? I've been awake since two in the morning."

"No wonder you look so rumpled then." Yuki sniffs from behind me.

"Shut it, rat!

"Honda-san tried her best to wake you, but…" Yuki, impeccable as always, murmurs, and turns away.

I shoot him 'a look', and turn my attention to our housekeeper and friend. "I was writing at my desk." I explain.

"Not when we came in," Tohru denys, shaking her head. "We couldn't wake you, and were about to call Hatori until Shigure-san decided to give waking you one last shot."

Yuki whacks me around the head. "You made Honda-san worried, lazy cat," he turns and walks out of the kitchen before I can retaliate with anything more than a cry of indignation. "We're going to be late if we don't hurry."

Ah yes, that's my life, a coma here, an out-of-body experience there…

When I get home, the first thing I do is dump my stuff, and cautiously pick up my book like it might bite. I don't doubt Yuki and Shigure's abilities to play tricks on me, but Tohru would never even consider it. She's too nice for that. 

I flip to the current page, and there it is, my last entry. 

_10.10.03 5.03 PM_

Okay, now I'm fucking going insane. I check my clock at 3 something, then when I look up after writing only a little bit, I'm late for school. And my cousins, Yuki and Shigure, claim that I had been sleeping all that time, and they couldn't wake me. This would be like one of their usual bouts of asshole-ness, if not for Tohru. Something's wrong with this picture. I'm going insane.

They'd better not tell Akito.

When I was sleeping on the roof again, I heard the voice. It sounded closer this time, more defined. Once again, it told me that it 'knew me now', and I have a feeling that something is going to happen soon. I don't know why I'm not clawing the ceiling and locking myself in for my own good, and I don't know why I haven't told anyone. It just doesn't seem right to.

I close my book again, and slide it back into it's place. I glance distractedly at the window, and realise that it is raining again, and the sun has set early. I collapse back onto my futon, and my eyes closed for only a few seconds before:

"KYO! DINNER!"

I open my eyes again in surprise, and stare at my clock like it had claimed it would become a Broadway star.

7.21 it reads, 7.21. 

I slide open my door, and stumble into the bathroom to stare at my unusually pale face in the mirror. My tanned skin looks unhealthily dull, and my pupils are larger than normal, like they'd been diluted. Pressing a shaking hand to my forehead confirms it, I have a fever.

"KYO!!!" 

Shigure's throat must be hurting by now.

I turn in irritation from the counter and bawl back "COMING!!"

Pushing myself away from the counter, unready for the wave of vertigo that accompanied it, and head downstairs.

They never mentioned losing hours as part of the insanity of the Sohma cats. Ah well, I've always strived for individuality.

After storming down the stairs like a man possessed, I stand trying to stay upright as the world tilts like a funhouse floor.

Yuki sounds like he was underwater as he yells "Kyo?"

And then the ground reaches up to grab me. 

11.10.03 ???

I'm missing a day. I really am. My clock confirms it, but I can hardly rely on that thing any more. I awoke, in my own bed but still dressed, and there was no one around. I've checked the house; there's no one here. Tohru's working until late, whenever that may be, and Yuki and Shigure must be up at the main house. Something's strange. It's raining again, but rain is never mentioned on the news, and the grass is never wet in the morning. Where the fuck am I then?

I stop writing abruptly, storm over to my window, and open it with a 'thump' that sounds out of place. I stick my arm out into the rain. It feels real enough. Disappointed, like the rain might have given me some answers, I wipe my arm on the bottom of my shirt and close the window. 

When I turned back around, there is someone standing there. 

He seems to be male merely for the convenience of it, because his face was beautiful and wouldn't look out of place on a girl. His amber eyes are serious, and stares at me with some strange form of fascination. Folded neatly behind him is a pair of red, orange and amber flecked wings, and his costume is otherworldly, but still seems formal and ancient. A plait of deep red hair floats after him as he walks closer to me, closing the distance until there is just inches between us, but he stands almost a head over me. His mouth opens, and I know what he's going to say, because I've head it before.

"I know you now?" The voice is different. It is still light and familiar, but familiar in a different sort of way, and sounding confused.

I open my tired eyes, and my world shatters. 

"YUKI!" I'm not sure what I bellow after that, but it make him put down my journal. "What the FUCK are you doing going through my stuff!?!"

Yuki, having recovered quickly, narrows his lavender eyes. "You left it out on your desk, baka-neko, so don't blame me if people accidentally read it."

I don't know what to say to that. I had left it on the desk, but that had been when I was in the other place. I didn't know that that applied to here as well.

My door opens, and Hatori comes into the room. "I see the patent is awake," he murmurs, almost as if he's talking to himself. "Lie back down." He commands me.

I stare at the ceiling as he explains. "there seems to be nothing physically wrong with you apart from a slight lump on your skull where your head collided with the stairs."

Flushing slightly, I concede I must have fainted. 

"Has he been getting enough sleep lately?"

"He sleeps like he's in a coma. We can't wake him any more, but he wakes himself."

I'm pissed off that they're talking like I'm not here, or a pet or something, but I manage to keep my mouth shut. I'm too tired to complain. 

"Well," Hatori sighs, "I suggest you don't go to school for a few days, until you start feeling normal again." He pauses as he's about to leave the room "You could take up star gazing, I hear that a comet will be passing by some time in the next couple of days. Something that doesn't involve moving."

12.10.03 ???

I can see why he didn't want me moving. My legs can barely support my weight; it was a struggle to get to my desk, and when I finally got here, I fell asleep. If my father saw me now, If Yuki saw me now, for that matter. This weakness will pass, and then I will be fine again. 

I haven't seen him this time, not since he almost spoke. 

It's stopped raining.

My legs support me until I reach the doorframe and I rest, leaning against it until I can work up the strength to move on. This frustrates me, and I silently berate my body for being so weak. Speaking seems wrong. 

I greet the fog seeping in through the open front door almost like a friend, as it seems to comfort and support me. I regain a bit more of my strength. I stumble off the deck and it is good to feel the hard-packed gravel drive under my feet again. The trees lie beckoningly a few metres to my sides, but before I can answer their call, a shape pushes out of the mist before me. 

"Master?" I hear his voice clearly for the first time, and see the concern in the volcanic eyes as he cushions my fall when my legs give way. 

He frowns slightly. "Baka neko."

I close my eyes firmly for a second, and when I open them again, I am outside the house. Yuki has me in his arms, and Tohru is concernedly rubbing my one of my hands to try and warm me up. There is a cool breeze, and I am shivering uncontrollably with only a singlet and boxers on.

I blink stupidly at the two, and Yuki hoists me up into his surprisingly strong arms. 

"Don't worry, Honda-san, I'll make sure he gets back to bed okay."

As he strides up the steps and somehow manages to remove his shoes without any hands Yuki mutters at me "How did you get down here? Why did you leave your room? Hatori told you to stay still."

There is slight concern in his lecture though, and it comforts me. I loop my arms around his neck so that I am more comfortable, and regret the loss of body-heat when he tucks me back into my own bed.

I close my eyes for a moment, and when I open them again, the winged man and Yuki are oddly doubled in each other.

"Everything is in place now master, you can sleep properly now."

There.

First bit out of the way, and now we can get down to business. *rubs hands together*

Next time, I assure you, more things will be happening, and there will be more chance for dialogue, so more chance for anything to happen.

Please read and Review, this is my first effort, and I don't want to be discouraged! _


	2. One

Here we are with another somewhat enthralling chapter, well, the first actual chapter of Kyo's Cards! Thankyou to all those who reviewed, please keep it up! Reviews make me motivated, and when I'm motivated by something, I work on it. Get my drift?

Disclaimer: I own neither the concept of Fruits Basket, nor Card Captors. Wish I did, though.

13.10.03 8.45 AM

I slept last night, for the first time in what seems like ages. Surprisingly, I'm feeling better than I have for years, and I could even call my mood energised.

I didn't dream, it was just comforting black. It's a Sunday, so there's no school to interrupt me, and I plan to spend the day on the roof sunbaking while summer's still around .I wouldn't mind faking sick tomorrow, but I have to do something today. It's a pity; I'll probably miss the comet.

Pushing back my chair, I stretch like a cat and arch my back until it clicks, then pad over to my wardrobe, where I pull out at random a forest green t-shirt, and a pair of light brown cargo pants. It's my way of dressing, I wear whatever is on top in my draws.

I replace my boxers and singlet and feel uncomfortable at the thought that I had been standing outside looking blank in them the day before. Suddenly I remember Yuki carrying me up to my room, and I decide to skip making an appearance, even for the sake of food, and just lie on the roof until anyone tries to get me down. That can be between one hour and the hour of darkness, but I don't really care that much. 

The cat in me complains at my wasting time, and so I climb lithely out of my window and make my way onto the roof.

I close my eyes. When I open them, the sky overhead is cloudy and looks ready for rain. The air around me is thick and warm, almost like a blanket. Groaning, I let my head fall back onto the roof tiles as I realise where I am. 

The winged man sits next to me, his knees pulled up near his chin, and arms crossed over them, which is a strange sight with his red-trimmed white tunic that covers everything but his feet. His sash lies like a sleeping snake on the roof next to him, between us. 

"What are you going to call me, master?" he asks, still gazing at the grey scenery ahead.

 "I don't know, name yourself." I snap, frowning. I am getting very fed-up with this guy pulling me into some sort of dreamscape. It deprives me of my sleep.

He frowns, still looking off into the distance. "But master, you must give me a name…"

"Alright then: Joe." I spout.

He pouts. "Master, be serious…"

He reminds me of Yuki; distant and cold. His very presence seems out of place, as everything else is gloomy, and seems to have the colour sapped out of it. Not this one. His reds and ambers were as bright as ever, and the base white of his skin and clothing pristine. He creates his own colour.

"You're weird. Like frost on a summer's day," I smile slightly, as it's hard to stay annoyed in this place; it seems to sap most emotions out of you like colour. "There you go!"

He blinks, and turns to face me for the first time, his eyes questioning. "Pardon?"

"Your name. Shimo, it means frost."

He stares as me for a moment for, then turns his face to the heavens and closes his eyes, veiling them with thick black lashes. "Thankyou." He whispers, and there is nothing left to say.

I close my eyes, and a cool breeze brushes across my unprotected arms.

13.10.03 2.49

I almost fucking fell off the roof. I could feel someone beside me still, but when I looked over, it wasn't Shimo, it was fucking Yuki! I don't know what the fuck he was doing there, but I wasn't there for long either. I stood up to yell at him as he dozed beside me, but lost my balance. As I landed in the gutter and rolled off that, I saw Yuki glow. It wasn't like happy glow; it was like fucking 'I'm a fucking light-bulb' glowing. His sleeping body lifted from the ground, and that's all I saw before I was stuck with one hand clutching the guttering, and the other one hanging at my side. The next thing I know Shimo hoists me back onto the roof, calls me a 'baka neko' and disappears. His wings wrapped around himself, and when they unwrap, Yuki was left there looking blank. He blinks, then collapses onto the roof again. So then I'm stuck with an inert Yuki to deal with.

And just to annoy me, Shigure screams out his window at that point "KYO!! Keep it down!!"

Oh yeah, like he's actually working.

I stalk him through the house. Yuki's pace quickens as he walks past the laundry room, but then he stops abruptly, whirls around and slams me against the wall.

Again, I am surprised by the strength in his frail-looking arms. 

He has palm next ot my head and is bracing himself on it.

"Why are you following me, cat?!"

I stare at him for a second, then simply say "Shimo."

Yuki closes his eyes and his breath quickens. He goes slack for a moment, then is enveloped by the bright light. When it clears again, the man who refers to me as 'master' is standing over me.

He removes his hand, steps back to a respectful distance, and straightens out the front of his tunic. "What is it, master?"

"we need to talk." 

I motion him foreward, then check around the corner to see if the front room is clear. I can hear a clacking keyboard from Shigure's room, and Tohru humming in the kitchen. 

I run and quietly as I can up the stairs, and by the rustling of his wings, Shimo is doing the same. As I close my door behind us, Shimo settles onto my floor in the traditional sitting position as best he can while still compensating for wing space.

I walk until I am opposite him, then sit down roughly cross-legged. What a pair we must look.

Shimo stares me in the eyes with his usual blank expression. "What is it you want to discuss, master?"

"First of all, stop calling me master! My name is Kyo!"

Shimo looks taken aback. "But you are my master…" He trails off.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" I ask, bracing my hands on my knees. I feel slightly ridiculous yelling at him when I'm so much shorter, but Shimo seems to be complying to my every order. I feel bad, like I'm bullying him when he's so subservient.

"Because you created me, Kyo."

"What?" I deadpan.

"The first thing I remember is your consciousness. You were the first thing that I knew, and while I shared all your memories, thoughts and emotions, I knew that I was separate." he looks confused. "It's hard to explain, but a few nights ago, I finally had the power to shift into a different form." 

My mind dashes over anything interesting happening over the past few days. Hatori's passing comment about the comet is all that springs to mind.

"So is that why I was so sick?" I press on, trying to shake the feeling that I had caught onto something important.

"You were sick because your body simply wasn't used to it, the sudden influx of energies that effected myself as well, and lacking my consciousness beside yours."

This is all too creepy, but I find myself compelled to keep listening.

"So why has this happened?"

The question at the heart of the problem.

Shimo shakes his head slowly. "That I do not know. We will have to learn of these matters ourselves."

The light cast into the room looks pale and sickly. A glance at the window conforms my suspicions. We are in the dreamscape again.

"Where are we?"

"These are the planes of your subconscious."

Gee, does it have to be so gloomy?

"What? This is where you've hung out?"

Shimo's nod confirms. "Yes. I find it more comfortable to talk to you while we are here."

I have taken the reins of my questions, and I fire off another. "Why is Yuki always there when I wake up?"

Shimo looks concerned that I did not realise. "He is my new host,"

"WHAT?!" my comment comes out larger and harsher than I meant it to, and Shimo visibly jumps. "You stole the body of my cousin?"

"He was an appropriate host, and it needed to be someone close to you."

"Yuki is not close to me," I spit out. 

Shimo's look explains it all.

"Alright, so he is a bit, but I wouldn't rely on any returning feelings,"

Shimo opens his mouth to correct me.

"No! I don't want to know. Don't worry about it, forget I ever mentioned it."

"Yes master." Shimo intones, sounding relieved to get past the subject.

My hands have moved from my knees to my lap, and my thumbs twiddle around each other. "So will Yuki eventually have to know about all this?" My question sounds weak, because I am not really sure what 'all this' is.

"It would only be fair."

I grimace at the thought. The mood in the room is bleak, and I smile in an attempt to melt some of the frosty overtone from our conversation.

"I know one thing that you could do for me to make matters easier…"

Shimo looks instantly attentive. "Yes master? What is it?"

I grimace again. "Stop calling me master."

"Yes master- I mean, Kyo." Shimo smiles softly.

Even angels can make mistakes.

14.10.03 10.14PM

I got ready for school with all the enthusiasm of a person getting ready for their exectution this morning, I hadn't done my homework, hadn't even come close to thinking about it, but I doubt that the teacher would have taken celestial visitation as a valid excuse. If Yuki hadn't ratted me out (pun, yes, I know), then I could have said that I had only started recovering from my mystery illness yesterday, and so couldn't possibly have time to work, as I was too busy being pathetic. It's a pity Yuki made a point of talking about my recovery with her, the big suck-up. Damn him.

Yuki kept giving me strange looks at breakfast this morning. I think he suspects… something. I don't even fucking know what there is for him to suspect. Plan for tomorrow: go to school and avoid Yuki at all costs. 

It's a bit hard when we're in the same class, but it never hurts to try… unless I'm trying to beat Yuki, then it generally hurts a lot.

Oh bugger, what am I talking about?

There was a red feather left on the floor last night when I came-to from the dreamscape, so I tucked it under my pillow before I hastily shoved Yuki into his own bed. I feel guilty looking at him. Another reason for avoidance. Maybe I should just skip school and hang out in the forest for a while. One more week until the holidays.

I walk into my room after cleaning my teeth for the night, and I instantly walk over to my pillow and pick the feather out from under it. This proves that I'm not insane. 

A breeze rushes through my room from my open window into the rest of my house and I mutter bleakly about my room being a 'wind tunnel' and turn around to go and shut my door.

It is already shut. 

I know that it hadn't been mere moments ago, and decide to investigate. The hallway outside is clear, and I hadn't heard any footsteps. Strange.

The wind takes advantage of the gap in my door to blow out past me, and my feather goes flying. 

"Oh, bugger off!" I growl at the window, before stepping outside my room and closing the door carefully after myself. 

My feather sits calmly in the middle of the hallway, but as I approach it, the feather moves away.

I am so not up for this shit on a school night.

With a cry of indignation, I end up sprawled on my face as I try to leap on my errant feather, but it keeps moving off down the hallway.

Wind from Yuki's partially opened door stirs it, and the feather lifts off the ground to fly leisurely into his room.

"Shit!" I whisper, and cursing the feather, I follow its path as quietly as I can.

Yuki's room is quiet, and the weak light from the hall shows that the feather has come to rest on Yuki's hand. He lies on his stomach with his sheets pulled up under his armpits, and his arms are exposed and lying on either side of his head. 

The feather seems to mock me from where it lies on the back of Yuki's pale appendage.

I stand about two feet away from Yuki's actual bed scowling at it when he stirs and turns to scratch his hand. His other hand closes around the feather, and my heart sinks. 

I lean over his inert form and I try to gently wrest my prize from his hand when Yuki's dark eyes flash open, and he swiftly moves his hand out of the way.

"Ah!" I fall back startled, and then, to my utmost disgust and surprise, I shrink rapidly with a 'poofing' noise.

Never surprise the cat when he's already jumpy.

As a small orange cat, and jump onto Yuki's bed and bat at his hand with one of my hopelessly inefficient paws.

"Give it back!" I cry, annoyed at my cat vocal cords.

Yuki's clutched hand effectively avoids my feeble flailing, and he says "Why are you in my room?"

"Because I want my fucking feather!" 

I have conceded that I might not be able to wrest my feather from its captor, so I settle for the next best thing, hooking some of my claws into Yuki's wrist.

Yuki flinches but continues. "Why is it here in the first place?" he demands, ripping his hand away.

My eyes are set on the few bits of red incandesance sticking out of Yuki's grip as I answer. "because of the fucking wind!"

"And why should I give it back to you?" His voice sounds amused, and I know that he's toying with me.

"Becau-"

I am cut off midway though my sentence when I suddenly return to my normal form.

Yuki pauses and blushes, carefully keeps his eyes on my face, then his eyes narrow with danger. "Put some clothing on."

Abashed, I climb off his bed and pull my tracksuit pants back on, and then my old t-shirt.

I try to break the uncomfortable silence. "So… will you give me back my feather now, or do I have to use brute force?"

"Brute is right, but I'm not sure about force…" Yuki murmurs, and I can tell that I was meant to hear it.

I shoot him a dangerous look, and then stand glaring at him from the side of his bed.

"On one condition."

"Mercy?"

Yuki ignores that. "Tell me what's been happening lately."

That runs into my mind, and I have a mild flash of panic. 

I pause for a moment. "It's not that important, you can keep it…" I trail off, and attempt to take a step back.

Yuki's other hand flashes out, and closes hard around one of my bony wrists. "Tell me what's been happening lately."

He squeezes, and I twist out of his grip and rub my wrist where there will soon be a bruise.

"It's not important." I say, skipping over the subject. I turn to walk to the door, sending my feather a regretful look, but before I can get there, Yuki skips out of bed and blocks the doorway.

He looks oddly feminine in his light singlet and three quarter length light sleeping pants, but I refrain from telling him that.

"Tell me." There is a determined look in Yuki's eyes that says louder than words that I am not going to get out of this one easily. His thin arms are pressed to either side of the doorway, and I scowl at him, knowing that it's hopeless unless I feel like climbing out the window.

"I've been having dreams."

"I know that."

"Then why do you have to ask?!" I cry. 

"Because, it's better to hear this from you." He says coolly and calmly. He turns to shut his door with an ominous click, and the light in the room is now gloomy at best. He repeats his first question. "What has been happening lately?"

I frown and stare at the ground as he silently moves past me to sit on his bed again, one leg hanging off. I feel like I'm on trial. "When I dream… Time passes differently. What seems like minutes can really be hours, but when I dream, I don't sleep. Well, afterwards, it doesn't feel like I have."

Yuki continues to stare at me with his unsettling violet eyes.

"I don't really know much past that. A couple of nights ago, someone else came into the dream." The look Yuki gives me is incredulous. "What? It's true. It started out as a voice, but then I started seeing the person that went with it."

"Who is it?"

"Shimo. He asked me to name him." I add quickly. I don't know why that's so important. "Shimo calls me master, and says that I created him."

"So that's why you said it in the hallway." Yuki murmurs.

I look up sharply. "You remember that?"

"Yes I remember that," Yuki says sharply, "But I don't remember anything after it."

"That's Shimo!"

"Shimo… the person you made up?"

I start feeling angry. "He's real!"

Yuki raises his chin. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"Well, it's somewhat hard to introduce the two of you, but if it really matters, then what you're holding is a feather off his wings."

The second I say it, I realise I probably shouldn't have.

"His wings? What is he, a bird?"

"No! Shimo's a bloke with wings! I don't know why, so don't bother asking! He's just there! What you're crushing is the only proof I have. I found it after our last talk."

Yuki opens his hand, palm out. "This is one of Shimo's feathers?" He lifts it from his hand and in the moonlight from outside the deep red reflects gold.

A sudden wind blows, and knocks it out of his outstretched hand, and it floats into mine, settling in my cradled arms almost bashfully.

"Yes, it is."

I absent mindedly run the feather across my neck without noticing myself doing so, and Yuki glances quickly from that back up to my face.

"Well, don't come to me with half the story, find out what's happening!"

"I didn't come to you, you fucking insisted!"

"That's not the point." He says briskly. Yuki turns to look out his window above his bed.

I head towards the door, then pause before I leave. 

"One other thing. Shimo is in you. If you want answers, look there."


	3. Two

Back again. Despite the lack of reviews, I write this story almost compulsively. Still, I wish more people would say 'hi'…

Disclaimer: As for the last few chapters, I still own nothing. 

15.10.03 8.47 PM

Five days until the end of term.

Strange things keep happening. My incense lights itself at a mere whim and doors shut themselves behind me. I'm finding it harder and harder to hide my levitating pencils, and to top it all off, my bag packs itself. I have no idea what is happening, but when Yuki actually lets me talk to Shimo (he's getting better and better at blocking) all Shimo can do is smile mysteriously and say that it's 'supposed to happen', and 'entitled'. What the hell does he mean by that?

If this is a good thing, then Tohru is an intellectual giant. It's not that she isn't smart in her own right, but she's rather naive. Sometimes I wonder. Yuki's smarter, Tohru's nicer, Shigure's more charismatic… and the others… well, I wonder why me. This topic is once again Shimo's 'smile mysteriously' territory. I wish he'd stop it, but if I told him that, I fear he might take it in a completely literal sense, and I'll never get any emotion out of him again.

Grr.

I push myself away from my desk, and close my eyes momentarily whilst moving my neck about to work the kinks out of it. 

I open my eyes and Yuki is standing in my doorway. He is leaning against it with his arms crossed, and a bemused look on his face. I smell the spicy sent of Tohru's cooking wafting up from the kitchen, but it does nothing for me.

"Dinner's ready."

I groan and stretch again. "Not really hungry."

"Then Shimo says you should rest."

I look up sharply, and glare at the smug smile on Yuki's face. If he isn't kidding, I don't want to think of the things that Shimo's accidentally blurted out. "You can speak to him?"

He nods, his smile not really fading. "We've chatted a bit."

"Then do you believe me now?"

Yuki shrugs his shoulders loosely and carelessly.

Pressing on regardless, I say "And anyway, since when has Shimo decided when I go to bed?"

I stubbornly ignore the fact that I had been considering the option myself. He knows me too well. 

A distant, glazed look comes into Yuki's eyes, like he's listening to someone only he can hear. It's flipping true as well. "Since now."  
Shimo's wondrous answer. 

Smart-arse.

"I'm going to have to deal with that spirit…" I mutter bleakly as I shuffle over to my bed and pull my night things out from underneath my pillow. 

I raise one of my feet behind me, reach behind with a hooked finger and flip one of my socks off. Its brethren soon join it on the floor amongst the rest of the stuff that clutters my floor space. 

I look over my shoulder and arch an eyebrow at Yuki, who is still standing there. "You can go now." I tell him with a hint of superiority.

For the first time, I consciously will the door shut, and are satisfied when it slides home with a click. I'm finally getting the hang of this.

A cold wet nose touches my neck, and I come out of my sleep and bat feebly at whatever is sitting on my chest. It sniffs my fingers and I frown, but when it licks them, I yelp and sit straight up in bed. The small ball of stuff rolls over my sheets till it's near my knees, sits up, and shakes it's head to clear it. The white blob stares up at me with wide accusing grey eyes.

"What are you?!"

It smiles widely, makes a squeaking noise, and a small white flower floats down from the ceiling to rest in my lap. I stare, aghast. 

"What are you?!"

It crows again, and white petals drift down from some unknown source to coat my bed. 

"Quiddit." I tell it sternly, wrinkling my nose to dislodge the flower that had landed on it. 

The thing seems ecstatic as I pick it up and bring it close to my face. Despite the strange way it looks, I fail to feel threatened by its appearance. 

The white blob has a small head, and a suspiciously flower shaped ruff around it's neck, before a small petite body with limbs that are miniature and look like it could barely support it.

I stroke it's ruff, and the creature springs from my hands to bounce off my head my head. 

"Arrgh!"

A twin scream sounds from downstairs, and something smashes.

The flower-thing pauses to look over my shoulder, and we both stare as a familiar fiery-winged spirit drifts as fast as possible in a corridor to the door of my room. He grabs the corner and swings around the corner.

"What happened?!"

I cock my head to one side, and have a strange feeling that the flower-thing (for lack of better name) does the same. I have a sinking feeling that sleepwalking Yuki had just disappeared in a blaze of light from the kitchen. I point wordlessly at the thing on my shoulder. 

This is the first time that I've seen any sort of emotion out of Shimo, and I am surprised that he cares when I scream.

Shimo is confused. "A little spirit?" he holds out his arms, and the little thing is drawn with a speak off my shoulder to him. Shimo holds it up and inspects it from every angle. "It also appears to be bound to you. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. I woke up and it was here."

The thing struggles free, pokes it's tongue out at Shimo, and scampers up to my side. 

"It made these flowers when I woke up," I add, hoping to supply some useful information for the musing guardian.

"Then I must have some connection to them. Ask it to do something."

"Um… could you… um… make a flower for me?"

The thing pauses from scratching the side of it's face, blinks at me, meowls, and continues with what it had been doing before.

"You have to be more specific than that," Shimo chides.

I sigh, and try again "Thingy, make me a… marigold!"

It meowls again, this time joyfully, and a middle-sized bright orange flower floats down to rest on my lap. It makes the white petals around it look stark, and the marigold itself seems to blaze.

I lift the thing in my arms and it waves it's little limbs and squeals with joy.

"Can it do anything else?" Shimo presses on.

"Can you create water?" 

The thing looks like it's thinking for a moment, and then a something falls, not drifts, to land with a squelch in my lap. A water lily. "Just flowers…" I manage to get out from clenched teeth. Eeew. I feel the wetness seeping into my pants as Shimo thinks deeply. "can you stop thinking about the flipping flowers and start thinking about how we're gonna save my bedding?!"

16.10.03 8.12PM

He's done what I never considered he would be able to do. I came downstairs this morning fully really to lie to Tohru through my teeth about whatever she saw, and she blamed it on being clumsy. 

I asked Yuki, and he conveyed to me, somewhat paler than usual that Shimo had wiped her memory of the event. 

I've realised that I have never really given thought to what Shimo can do. I plan to take Yuki into the forest, and make Shimo show me what he can do. We can make a day of it, and I can prepare a picnic lunch. How very domesticated, besides the whole 'magic' thing. That's the first time I've used that term with what's been happening. It's not that I didn't think of it, I just tried to steer away from it. This is sounding too much like an anime for me.

Four days till the end of term.

I wake up the next morning with my arms wrapped around the thing that we have called, for lack of better name, and since between Shimo and I (though I doubt Shimo was trying) there is probably enough creativity to fill a sock, Blossom. Yes, I know, you can't imagine how bad I am at problem solving.

I stare at Blossom and think 'fuck'. What do I do with it? 

"Where do you go, god, where do I put you?!"

Blossom blinks sleepily, then crows. His entire structure changes then, and he seeps from between my fingers as a pale mist. It circles above for a moment to build up momentum, then slams into my chest. The mist disappears into me, and I am thrown forcefully sideways off my bed and land in a lump of sheets on the ground with an almighty 'thump'. For the second morning in a row, there is a scream followed by the clatter of dropped tableware, and Shimo appears, scowling in my doorframe. 

As I sit wheezing with a hand splayed across my chest, Shimo looks suspiciously around my room. "Where's Blossom?" he finally asks.

I stab a finger at my chest as I try to regain my breath. 

"What? You? Pardon?"

I stab at my chest again twice and my vocal chords finally start working again. "In me. It's in me…" 

Scowling, Shimo strides over and grabs me by one of my arms. He hauls me to my feet and proceeds to examine my chest. "Stop it!" I yank myself away and stare, violated, at Shimo. I draw in a deep breath. "I'm okay. Go deal with Tohru."

Shimo nods and turns away with a swish of sash, red hair and wings. He disappears around the corner, and I stand, collecting my thoughts for a few seconds more. 

The door shuts as I command it to, and I stride over to my wardrobe to stare at myself in the mirror. Same scowling tanned face and angry-looking red eyes that scare small children. Same coppery hair in an unimaginably boring cut, same wiry body, and same calloused palms. I stretch out a finger and a single cherry-blossom forms on the end of it. With a wry smile, I add it to my jar. In my jar is Shimo's feather, the marigold that Blossom made for me, as well as a few strands of dark red hair that I found on my floor. It's because of this jar that I know that I'm not insane, and I'm not imagining things. These things are real; real to touch, real to the eye. My jar of memories.

I dress again in my school uniform, making no effort about my appearance. I console myself that soon I will not have to wear the same boring outfit for weeks.

I sling my bag over my should and shuffle downstairs to eat. 

Yuki sits at the table looking decidedly worse-for-wear, and Tohru has a slightly confused and glazed look on her face as she hands me my bowl. I feel slightly guilty. Shigure hasn't appeared yet (probably scared that his editor will be waiting for him), so we enjoy a fairly peaceful breakfast. 

The three of us set off to school, Tohru in the middle and Yuki and I sticking to our respective sides, and I sigh as we pass under red-leaved trees. It's hard to believe that any of this is happening as we pass through such a peaceful place. Everything seems as it should be. 

I close my eyes and breathe in the cooling air.

I open my eyes, and the path is foggy. 

"Kyo, I've figured it out."

"Oh, fuck! Shimo now is not a good time!"

I turn away from my guardian as he stands in the mist a few feet away from me, and allow myself to sulk. I hate it when he does this, and now is a very inconvenient time. 

"But I understand now! Blossom is an elemental! Blossom has been created by your mind to have dominance over the flowers of the world. With it, you can control them."

I stare, silently at him. Shimo looks exited with what he now knows.

"What this also concludes is that there are more than just Blossom. There is one for every separate element of life that your mind can conjure."

My eyes widen at the thought. "Then where are they…?"

"That I do not know."

Shimo turns away to retreat back into Yuki's mind. 

"Shimo!" 

He turns to regard me for a moment.

"When Blossom wet into me, I could create flowers myself."

Something almost like surprise flickers across his face, and then is gone. "You have given me more to ponder."

I nod, and close my eyes.

"Kyo?!"

My eyes flicker open to Tohru's concerned face. 

"Daijobu ka?"

"Yes, I'm fine." I sit up and glance at Yuki, who stands a few feet away. He knew what was happening, probably warned by Shimo, and seemed unconcerned.

He could have at least warned me.

"What happened? One second you were just walking along, then you collapsed…"

"Don't worry about it." 

I pat Tohru on the arm, about as comforting as I can get in my family's current situation, and brush myself off. "By the way, you don't have to tell Hatori about this either."

Tohru nods, and hovers close as we continue walking.

The mood has changed to one that is uncomfortable with an over tone of worry. 

We all have things to think of. 

Another chapter done. Geez, this went off on a new tangent… ah well, I gues it's time to bring other people into play then…


	4. Three

I'm back again with yet another chapter.

Disclaimer: The usual disclaimer applies.

18.10.93

Two days until the end of term. 

Close now, and surprisingly uneventful. The end of the term feels like the light at the end of the tunnel, and I wake with great anticipation each morning, to look out at the slowly turning leaves. Someone's gonna have to rake the yard soon, and it will probably be me. Around this house, I'm menial labour boy. Tohru keeps the house, but they expect me to do 'manly' things like killing spiders in the tub and changing light bulbs. I think I'll have to do what I considered before now, I need to get Shimo somewhere where other people can't watch, like the forest, and tell him to explain exactly what he can and can't do. There are just way too many unknowns right now.

But how am I gonna get Yuki to agree? I mean, it's not like he's going to readily agree to help me

"Kyo-kun?"

My pen stops abruptly, and I slap my book closed. Tohru stands in the doorway looking uncomfortable. 

"Tohru! I mean, yes?"

I'm definitely not a gifted talker.

"I was just wondering if you're okay. You've been acting strangely lately, and…"

Tohru trails off to look at her small hands. 

I stand up, walk over to her, and take her hands in mine, trying to comfort out little housekeeper.

"I promise I'm alright, okay? It's nothing." 

A sudden thought inspires me, and I remove one of my hands to reach behind me. 

When I bring it back it grasps a sunflower, and I hand it to her, feeling wonderful as she flushes and smiles like the sun rising.

I smile slightly at her, the best I can manage without grinning like a loon. "I'll be down for dinner, okay?"

She beams at me again and practically skips off down the corridor. 

With a small sigh, I slip back inside my room and shut the door manually. Eyes closed, I lean against the doorframe for a few moments

I still don't really feel like eating, but the promise to be present for dinner makes the girl happy. Besides, I'm getting a little skinny.

Tohru's so damn nice. She's like the sister that you always wanted, someone sweet that you can look after just as much as she looks after you. She's going to make a wonderful mother some day.

I sigh place my pen back down on the deck next to my memory jar, and rest my head against my fingers, which are laced behind my head. The ceiling is turned a sooty orange as the sun sets out my window. 

Random acts of kindness, I decide, are not a bad thing at all. In fact, they make everyone involved feel good. 

I lean back further in my chair, and stretch my arms out and above my chair, fingers still laced together and palms facing the ceiling to my fingers bend back satisfyingly. 

Self-congratulation will only get me so far though, and I gather that Shimo will not be particularly impressed with my display of compassion. Not if it reveals my fairly shaky secret. 

I wont let him get to her though; I don't want him wiping her memory again. Her mind is already fragile enough.

I trudge downstairs with my hands sunk in my pockets through the living room into the kitchen. On the kitchen table my sunflower sits in a glass vase, half-filled with water, and it seems to be a testament against the ending summer. 

"Do you need any help?"

Tohru looks up from the rice that she was spooning into a bowl, and blushes again slightly. Her eyes dart down again.

"No thankyou, Kyo-kun, I'm alright."

I roll my eyes. "I want to help, alright?"

Tohru smiles slightly. "You could stir the soup…"

It's a good a job as any. I head over to the pot boiling on the stove, lift the large wooden spoon and stir the contents, letting the aroma of fish waft up to me. Maybe I'll make more than an appearance after all.

I place my chopsticks next to my empty bowl, and mumble Tohru thanks for the meal. I grab my plate and bowl, then pile Shigure, Yuki's and Tohru's on top.

Shigure gasps dramatically. "Be still my beating heart! Who are you want what have you done with the real Kyo-kun?"

I shoot my cousin a look that promises a slow and painful death, then carefully carry my load back out into the kitchen.

I place them in the sink, push the plug in, and fill it up with warm water. 

"Oh, no, Kyo-kun, you don't have to do that!"

Tohru sounds almost distressed as she hurries over to me. 

"I don't mind,"

"It's alright, I can do it myself, unless you want to do it that badly…"

I smile slightly. "If you insist…"

Shimo sits opposite me with a slightly amused look on his face. "I've got to say, Kyo, you've really changed."

"What do you mean?" I ask, arching an eyebrow. Blossom, who is sitting on my lap squeaks and reaches up a small paw to bat at the side of my face slightly. I chide it softly, capturing it's flailing paw in one hand, then pick up the other and bounce Blossom, much to its intense glee. 

"You've developed manners."

I narrow my eyes. "Are you saying that I wasn't polite before?"

"Yes, actually, I am."

Shimo's boldness surprises me. He's been spending way too much time around Yuki. If he starts calling me 'Baka-neko' instead of 'Kyo', I think I'll scream. There'll be two of them.

"And you haven't attacked Yuki for a week."

"Challenged, I haven't challenged Yuki for a week."

Shimo sighs like I'm sweating over the small things.

Personally, I think that there is a fine line between attacking and challenging. I always give Yuki fair warning… or insult him so much that it's only morally right that he hit me.

As I decide over the morals of my fights with Yuki, I see something flit around the corner of my eye and at the same instant something seems to tug on my soul. I whirl around, dislodging Blossom to see nothing but my shadow. 

I can sense that it's still here, but I see no sign of it.

"What was that?" I whisper to Shimo, who is on his feet and staring intensely around the room. 

"I know not. Another Elemental, perhaps?"

Nodding my head to acknowledge his theory, I run my eyes over my room once more. In the corner by the window lies my bed, and a few feet away, pressed up against another wall is my desk. Opposite my desk is my wardrobe, which has a mirror on the front, and the door is opposite the window, with a whole wall to itself. My room is bare bar the junk across the floor, but it serves its purpose. 

Blossom had disappeared back into the recesses of my mind, leaving Shimo and I alone to deal with the unknown entity. 

Something catches my attention. My desk has a second shadow. 

I make a split-second naming decision.

"Shade, please stop playing around,"

The shadow slinks across the ground to join into mine, making it longer, and casting itself over the wall.

The shadow waves, and feeling rather strange, I wave back. 

Shimo stands behind me and clamps a hand down on my shoulder.

"That's two."

I close my eyes, and Shimo's hand, lighter and more delicate now, slips boneless off my shoulder. 

I turn around in time to grab his falling limb, and wince as Yuki hangs, half sprawled across the ground and partially held up by my hold of his limb.

That doesn't look comfortable. 

Hauling Yuki over my shoulder almost like a sack of potatoes, I shuffle out of my door, and with a flick of my free wrist, Yuki's door opens and I eventually manage to get Yuki onto his own bed. I pull off his socks and tuck him inside the blankets, but refuse to go any further.

As far as I'm concerned, no one needs to wake up with the knowledge that the cat has stripped them.

I pause at the doorway to stare back reflectively at Yuki. 

"Damn rat, corrupting my Shimo." I smile slightly as I say this. 

If Yuki sees this moment of weakness, I will never live it down, though.

Yuki groans slightly and turns away from the light cast into the room from the hall. 

I step backwards out the door, and close it in front of me. With a sigh, I lean my head against it. 

Tohru's feet scuffle, alerting me to her presence as she reaches the landing. Her eyes widen, and she gasps "Kyo-kun, what are you doing up so late?"

I blink stupidly at her, turning my head slightly so I can regard her without removing it from the door.

"Why are you up so late?"

Tohru flushes slightly. "I'm just going to bed now…" The concern for Tohru's health that washes over me is soon deemed irrelevant as she presses on, "Why are you outside Sohma-kun's door?"

With a startled exclamation, I leap back from the door, my cheeks aflame. "Ah! Well, I… uh."

Tohru smiles knowingly and pauses to put her hand on my shoulder before she passes me. "Don't worry, he likes you too."

19.10.03 1.23 AM

Okay, so it barely qualifies as a new day, but I have something to say.

AM I REALLY THAT TRANSPARENT?!?!

Tohru could tell that I like him, and thinks that he likes me back! 

Argh! 

How does she know these things, that's what I wanna know. I haven't given the slightest indication of anything but the ordinary, and the only one that I thought knew what Shimo, but that's only because he knows all my memories. And how does she know that the ice-prince feels anything in return? He's either exquisitely courteous, or  calling me names until his tongue turns black. This doesn't seem like a love-situation here.

Holy shit, what the hell did I just call it?! Wait, stop everything while I think back over this. I honestly can't know anything yet. Love is not a term to be playing around with, so I'm going to forget I ever wrote that.

Yuki has got to never see this book, or I'm screwed.

I dress my book in shadows with my new-found Elemental's talents, then put it in the existing shadow of a larger object. I can only tell it's there now when I reach out my hand and touch it. 

I'd like to see him get his skinny little fingers on it now. 

Satisfied, I slip inside the covers of my bed, but my eyes stay trained on the place where my book is until I sleep.

There.

Please remember to review if you read, cuz reviews make my world go round, and make chapters come out faster.

BTW, I realise that I need to do something about my italics, or lack thereof. They futted out in the middle of the prolouge, and the diary entries can be a little confusing without them. I'll change that next time.


	5. Four

To make things easier, though I think it destroys the flow of the piece, I'll be placing '*~*~*~*' at the start and end of my diary passages from now on. Hee, and I've finally, gotten a CCS character in! Whoo, go me. 

*~*~*~*

19.10.03 6.52 AM

What I had last night barely qualifies as sleep, and so I'm up early again, and writing. It's the last day of term today, and this morning will not go fast enough. You must know you hate school when you're this relieved to see the back end of it for a while. Heh. One more term to go. 

I can hear Yuki stirring in the room next door, he probably discovering that he's back in his own bed now, and I'd better at least start getting properly dressed.

*~*~*~*

I open my wardrobe and pull out my uniform from its hanger, and a clean set of under-garments. I close the door and stare at my reflection for a moment. There is a slight smirk of my face that makes me look almost demonic. 

With a frown, I try to make it go away. The reflection keeps grinning.

When I wave my hand in the air, it doesn't follow, and then I notice that it doesn't hold the uniform, it's wearing it. I step back, and it steps forward, out of the mirror. 

My exact double winks slowly.

"Aahhh!"

My twin slams open my door, and screeches off down the corridor, and all I can do is follow.

We pass Tohru, who has an arm full of washing on the stairs.

"Good-morning, Kyo-kun… Kyo-kun?!"

I hear Tohru fainting boneless behind me, but I can't stop. There is another Elemental on the loose, in my skin.

He reaches outside when I finally catch up and tackle him at the knees. 

He is still smirking up at me as I sit on him, and spit out harshly "That's enough, Reflection!"

Reflection pouts at me, and reverts into what I guess is it's original form. It looks like a snake with small, almost dragonfly-like wings, and it circles around my head once before diving into my chest like a liquid mirror. 

I'm blinking, dazed, and sitting in a puddle of muddy water when Yuki rushes out of the house, and kneels down next to me.

"Are you alright?" His voice is different, and I recognise Shimo's mannerisms, as he helps me to my feet and starts brushing me off like a mother hen. Yuki's perfect little nose wrinkles slightly. "Go have a shower."

The new boy stares at me with a slight smile on his face from the desk next to me. It isn't a creepy stare-and-smile; it's more intelligent and informed. Like he knows something about me that I haven't even realised yet. Although he does look slightly Asian, there is a definite European look to him, from the set of his eyes, to the way that his black hair isn't as dead straight as most other people's. His name is Eriol, and he's polite, courteous, intelligent, and seems to rival Yuki for the popularity stakes even though this is his first day. I doubt he'll ever get a fan club though, I've seen him at morning-break; he seems to enjoy being alone. He's from England, but speaks perfect Japanese.

I don't know why he's looking at me though. 

The lecturer drones on at the front of the class, and I find it even harder to concentrate than usual with Eriol watching. I play with my pencil, using my 'gifts' to make it stand perfectly on it's leaded end and twirl slowly. I keep my hand cupped around it, but when I hear Eriol chuckle next to me, my concentration shatters. The pencil falls end over end, then tumbles off the side of the desk, to stop inches from the ground.

Hastily checking to see if anyone's noticed, I quickly pull my pencil back up, and with shock I notice the look on Eriol's face.

He's smirking. It's still slightly good-natured, but it's a smirk nonetheless. 

Yuki glances back at me from his place in the first row, and Eriol's grey-black eyes glance at him, then back at me from behind his rounded glasses. 

He smiles at me in earnest, then turns back to his work. 

I don't know why he came today of all days, the last of term. But then again, no one can really understand our principal; it's probably an attempt to 'integrate' him with the school society.

Still, the last day of term…

Tohru grips my hand in hers as Hatori's car drives away, with Yuki in it. Akito decided that he wanted to have a 'talk'. An impromptu meeting that has both of Yuki's companions tense. We walk down the street in silence, both of us probably thinking of the horrible things that the head of my family, and Tohru's practically adoptive family could do to my cousin. 

At the corner of the street, we run into Eriol, who smiles at us and asks politely if he can join us. 

To not accept would be rude, so Tohru and I reluctantly untwine our fingers and attempt conversation when it's thrown at us.

"Sohma-san, where is your cousin?"

"Yuki's visiting the main house." I mutter miserably.

What a way to start the holidays.

"Ah, your family owns more than one?" Eriol exclaims, looking intensely interested.

"Yeah. Most of us live at the main house, but Yuki, Tohru, Shigure and I live in another place in the woods."

"Oh, the woods around here? My house is a little way past that,"

Tohru looks up and smiles wanly. "When did you move into our town?"

"Two days ago."

"Why didn't you move here after the end of term?"

Eriol smiles at Tohru, a sweet smile. "Well, the terms in Britain are differently placed, and I wanted to learn a few names before I was forced to come here at the start of the holidays."

Eriol never gestures when he talks, he's perfectly calm. He's a 50 year old stuck in a teenage body.

"Why did you come?"

Eriol smiles mysteriously. "Because it was time for a change."

His eyes meet mine, and a tingle of something runs down my spine. I shiver, shove my hands in my pockets and hunch down lower. Tohru and I turn off onto the path to our house, and Eriol cheerily waves as we leave.

A feeling of foreboding follows me up the path.

I wake up from a nap on the roof, and slip back into my room at sundown. Shimo sits primly in the centre of my room, his wings held perfectly still. His hands are balled on his legs, and his knuckles show up white. 

Shimo clears his throat, and then tells me in icily clear tones "I do not approve of that man."

I sit down opposite my guardian, and look him in his furious amber eyes as I answer. "You mean Akito?"

I feel sorry for both Yuki and Shimo. Shimo shouldn't have had to go with him, but it was too late for that."

Shimo's eyes harden, and his lower jaw starts working slowly. I take it as a yes. "How's Yuki?"

Shimo's face goes distant for a moment, and I suddenly notice what difference anger makes to his features as it leaves them instantly. When he returns, there is a strange look in his eyes, and he stares over my head. "He's hiding. In his own mind, he hides. I can't reach him." 

There is silence for a moment.

"Why do you obey him?" Shimo suddenly asks, the frustration clear in his voice.

I open my mouth, and then close it again. "He's the head of our family," my excuse sounds vague and flimsy even to me.

"Does that give him the right to psychologically torment you? I know what he plans to do once you leave school. I was born in your mind, and I know you to be perfectly sane." His voice goes quieter, "he plans to imprison you no matter what happens, so why do you listen to him?"

"Because I have been raised to. He is the head of our family, and supposed to hold what is best for us."

Shimo looks me directly in the eyes. "A psychopath knows best now? Before I can snap back at him, Shimo slides fluidly to his feet. "Yuki will want plenty of sleep after today. Try not to disturb him."

A small light floats absently around the ceiling as I stare up at the ceiling, trying to sleep, and I follow it with my eyes. "Bright… come to bed."

The spark heads for my chest, becoming brighter and momentarily blinding me, and when the light dies down, I am alone again. 

I wonder if all the rest of the Elementals are just waiting around for me to notice them, or will I have to go searching?

*~*~*~*

20.10.03 8.53 AM

It's the first day of the holidays, and boy, don't I feel in the mood for fun. A very pale Yuki came out of his room last night only to eat before returning again, and he hasn't come out yet this morning. There's this feeling around the house that just doesn't let me relax and enjoy waking up late for once, but I can't put my finger on it. It's an almost palatable tension in the air. Shimo's last words are lying heavy on my mind, and Tohru's usually inexhaustible energy is wanning. 

In other, less depressing news, Haru's coming to stay sometime today and he'll be here for a week; that is if he can find the place. Wait, no, that's not necessarily good news… ah well, 'tis the life of the cat. 

*~*~*~*

Absently itching under my bracelet, I dress my book in shadow once more, and place it in the shadow of my overflowing bin. Still scratching my wrist, I walk towards the door as it opens in front of me, and head downstairs to get some breakfast. As I pass Yuki's room, I note that there is still darkness under his door, and sigh. Breakfast can wait.

I slid open his door a crack, and peer in. 

"Yuki…. Yuki…" 

The dark shape of Yuki rolls over with a groan. "Oi! Rat!"

Yuki completes a full circle on his mattress, managing to wrap a fair amount of his sheets around his legs, and blinks at me owlishly. 

"It's almost nine."

Yuki blinks once, then tries to sit up, but fails miserably with one of his arms caught in his sheets. "What?! Why didn't you wake me, you stupid cat?!"

I hold out a hand to silence him. "You didn't let me finish. It's Saturday, the start of the holidays, and I'm only waking you so you don't miss out on food."

Yuki collapses back into his bed with a sigh, and runs his free hand through his hair. "Stupid cat…"

"I've chosen to ignore your last comment." I mutter darkly, slipping inside his room and closing the door behind myself. 

Yuki glare at me half-heartedly. "What do you think you're doing?"

With a wink, I turn around to face the door. "I've got some people I want you to meet."

Blossom forms in my arms, and I turn around to display it proudly to Yuki, who blinks, and asks the first question that I did. "What is that?"

"This here, is Blossom."

"I see…" my cousin replies in tones that make me absolutely certain he had no idea what I'm talking about.

I sudden, devilish idea overtakes all reason. "I know what the problem is, you just can't see it properly." 

Small glowing balls of light form around the ceiling and dance around it in a slow graceful procession, and Yuki's eyes widen. He peels his eyes off the light show to stare at me wildly. 

I give him a slow wink in reply, and Blossom struggles free to bound over to Yuki's bed. With a mewling noise that demanded attention be slathered upon it, Blossom jumped up and onto Yuki's lap, and he recoiled like he had been burned. 

With a shaking hand he reaches out to poke Blossom, who crows, and suddenly, there is a shower of white rose petals raining down from the ceiling, drifting lazily between the lights and landing delicately on the floor to form a white carpet. 

Yuki stares at me with disbelieving eyes, and I smile at him in return. 

"Shimo's told you about it, right?"

Yuki nods dumbly, still staring at me like I've grown another head. 

"But I guess it's another thing altogether to see it…"

I want to join my cousin, but it seems a shame to stand on the flowers that are still falling from the ceiling. 

With a flick of my hands, the petals flow apart down the middle, and I walk down to meet him. 

"So what do you think?"

I sit down next to Yuki, suddenly anxious to hear what he has to say, stuffing my hands between my knees. 

"It's… amazing…" he breathes in reply.

Blossom coos in his lap, and Yuki runs an absent hand over it's head. 

"I've got something even better to show you…"

Mirror spreads out below my feet and runs as a puddle to the centre of the room, where it reforms into a familiar shape. 

The form of Akito glares at us for a moment, and I hear Yuki breathe in sharply. 

The Akito look-alike opens his mouth, and Yuki's eyes widen when he hears what it has to say.

"Ooh, there's a monkey in my pocket,  
and it's stealing all my change,

It's eyes are black and glassy,

And I think that it's deranged!!"

Yuki, who had been staring with horror before, started laughing helplessly as he watched the figure pick up the bottom of his robe and start tap-dancing. 

I snigger, and rest my head on Yuki's shoulder's as my shoulders shake. 

"Hey!" 

Akito does one round of the can-can, then explodes into shards of light. The original form of mirror buzzes over to where we sit and circles around Yuki's head once, curious. 

Yuki puts an arm around my shoulder and squeezes it briefly, then stands up and offers me a hand. 

"Silly cat."

He hits me lightly around the head as we walk towards the door, and I hiss at him.

Blossom, Reflection and Shine enter my body from the back so Yuki doesn't notice, and I frown at him. "Hey, you can't say it's not funny,"

"Yes," Yuki concedes, an amused but pained look on his face, "But I won't be able to keep a straight face whenever I see him again."

Laughing, we stumble out of his room, a swirl of petals following us.

Yuki and I manage to get down to the bottom of the stairs without incident, and Yuki turns to me with a serious look on his face. "You'd better help me clean my room,"

"Oh? Is that a threat?" I enquire, poking my tongue out at Yuki, and we finally enter the dining room. 

He hits me upside the head again. "Yes, it is."

Shigure, who has yet to disappear into his room, gives us a funny look when we enter the room, then smiles winningly.

Simultaneously, Yuki and I glare and growl "What do you want?"

Shigure looks hurt, and puts and hand to his heart like it pains him. "Why? Why do you always believe that I want something from you two but your undying love and affection?"

"Because we know better?"

"Yes, well, could you two please go and find Haru after you've eaten?"

Yuki and I fall back into our usual pattern with ease. We take a step apart, and both demand "What?!" We point at each other with accusing fingers without taking our eyes off our older cousin's face. "With him?!"

"Yes, please, thankyou!" Shigure cries. He laughs irritatingly, then stands up to leave. 

Yuki and I glare at each other for a second, then smirked. 

"I'll clean once we've got Haru."

Yuki nods. "Deal."

Yuki and I set a good pace down the driveway without speaking. Some of the rift between us has been healed, I can tell, and the tension between us has lessened considerably.

There is a sudden, sharp yank on my soul, and I stop abruptly. Yuki continues on for a few paces, then turns around and raises an eyebrow in silent query. 

"I… felt something."

Yuki turns all the way around to face me, and frowns. "What is it?"

Shaking my head slowly, I reply "I'm not sure…"

Yuki gives me a withering look, and I glare at him. "What?! It's true! You try doing this, and we'll see how secure you are!"

Yuki sighs. "Should we keep going?"

I nod. "It's gone now."

I keep my senses alert as we continue, ready to find any more traces of power. 

There is a twinge distinctly off to my right, and I break formation, and run into the trees. 

I hear Yuki's startled exclamation behind me, and then his feet crashing through the bushes behind me. 

I screech to a halt at the side of a small clearing and stare incredulously at the tall, thin palm tree growing in the middle of it. 

"That wasn't there before…" Yuki murmurs from behind me, stopping close to me. 

I walk cautiously into the clearing, and place a gentle hand on the trunk. It glows, and when the light dies down, there is a small, green haired man standing in it's place. I squirrel falls from the sky from where it had probably been roosting, and with a violated squeak, scampered off into the underbrush. 

The young man's body is waiflike, and with a smile, he takes a step towards me, his long ahir swaying to a breeze that no one else feels. 

"Flora…"

The newly named Elemental bows low from the waist, and then takes a step forward into my body. 

I am thrown back a few feet, and sit wheezing as Yuki hurries up from where he had been standing before, and kneels next to me, rubbing my back in a circular motion.

A small, fluffy grey kitten steps out of the bushes, and meows pathetically. I stare at it, blinking as it heads toward us; it's long wide tail winding through the air like a fuzzy banner. 

I meows again, then opens it's mouth and roars. 

Yuki and I jump, and watch with wide eyes as it's boarders blur, and it turns into an elephant. It trumpets, and then lowers its head and charges. 

Yuki and I are on our feet and running like the wind as it tramples over where we had just been standing, and we weave and duck through the trees that are uprooted with ease by the rampaging Elemental. 

Yuki pushes past me, and clambers up a tree, and reaches down an arm for my hand. I grab it, and using a combination of momentum, magic and digging my nails into the bark to get onto the branch next to him, and I cling onto Yuki with all my might. The elephant below our branch and bellows.

"Fauna…"

I reach out my free hand (the one that is not around Yuki's neck), and touch the tip of its trunk. The glow starts again, and what looks like the female counterpart of Flora is left. She curtsies mockingly, drawing her animal skins that make up her clothing to her sides like a skirt, then rockets forwards into my chest. 

Yuki and I slowly slide backwards off the branch, and end up in a bush below.

"OW! GODDAMNIT!"

Yuki rubs his head, and winces as he tries to stand.

Eventually, we limp out of the forest near where we went in, covered with dirt, mud, bark, leaves and even individual branches, to see Haru wandering vaguely, a small, hand drawn map clutched in one hand. 

I pick a leaf out of my hair, and call out to him. Hatsuharu turns around, and his eyes widen at the sight of us. Yuki trying his best to look dignified with dirt all over his face and clothing, trying to keep his weight off one leg, and myself pissed off beyond reckoning and looking even more bedgragled than my cousin. 

With a withering glance, totally ruined by my state, I point in the opposite direction from the one he's walking in. "The house is that way."

*~*~*~*

20.10.03 7.21 PM

_Haru had the good sense not to mention how we met him today. He's been around Yuki like white on rice since he's gotten here, but so far, no sign of Black Haru. He's still annoying though, as he's making it hard for me to talk to Shimo. He's settled into the spare room next to mine, and is as weird as usual. Yuki's taking it in his stride, but I'm *that* close to biting his head off. Gr._

After a day like today (I will be finding pieces of leaf-matter in my hair for years to come, I bet), I plan to have tomorrow for myself, and I bet that Yuki's deciding to do the same. 

_Thank all things holy it's the holidays._

*~*~*~*

Wow, have I written enough, or what? I didn't intend to make things this long, but things got a bit out of hand when inspiration hit. Heh. 

Thanks to everyone that's reviewed so far, especially if they've done so more than once. You guys make me feel cool.

Until next time…


	6. Five

Here we go, yet another chapter. Sorry it took a while to get out, but I've had prior commitments. Ah! And yes, either I'm confused, or Yamatoforever is confused, but this is set when Eriol are the same age as Kyo and Yuki etc. They'd be in the same year-level.

I walk through the woods, enjoying the newfound connection that I feel with it since Flora. It's the third say of the holidays, and I find myself surprisingly enough, enjoying my time alone. Yuki, Haru and Tohru have gone into town for the day, but I made sure that I couldn't be found in the morning, so they left without me. Shimo won't be impressed, but he's acting too much like a mother hen.

I made myself a simple lunch, which I've packed into my backpack, along with my diary to write down observations if I have any, a towel on a just-in-case basis. You never know. 

Fauna, back in it's cat form, is roaming out in the woods, just on the edges of my senses, and Blossom is sniffing around in the bushes as I go past them. Shadow roams amongst the trees, but Bright, preferring to rove during the night sits warm in my chest. Flora, still inside allows me its power, and Reflection flits around, changing from animal to tree, to some strange combination of the two as it comes across them. 

Something still strikes me as strange about the seeming normality of this scene, but I can't complain. 

Nah, it's a bit weird, but it's still fun.

I cross the driveway, emerging from the forest and into the sun for a few moments, and shield my eyes from the bright glare. 

A bicycle bell rings a short way down the road, and my Elementals sink back into the surrounding forests while I wait expectantly. I know that it can't be Haru, although he is the only lunatic with a bike that I know, because he left it at the main house this time. I black head comes into view, and I recognise it from the way the sunlight glints off the glasses as belonging to Eriol.

He waves at me, then skids to a stop in front of me.

"Sohma-san? What are you doing here?"

"Well," I scratch my head with the back of my hand, something I didn't realise until later as a rather cat-like thing to do. "This is my backyard…"

Eriol blinks, surprised. "This is all your family's land?"

I nod, and Eriol smiles. "Well then, forgive my intrusion. I hadn't realised."

I shrug. "People think that all the time. Don't worry about it." I shift my backpack in my shoulders. "I made myself some food, but there should be enough for two if you want to eat with me…"

Eriol smiles again. "I would like that, Sohma-san."

My thoughts spring back to Shimo, and I resist the urge to shudder. "You can call me Kyo if you want," I tell him, hopefully implying that I prefer my actual name. When people call me Sohma, I just feel like a freak. My mind springs to 'Sohma curse', then to 'cat', and then it all goes downhill from there.

"Alright then, where do you want to eat, Kyo-san?"

Ah well, it's better than nothing.

We pass the chopsticks back and forth between us, as there is only one pair. We sit in the middle of the clearing where I found Flora, and the conversation between us generally consists of the differences between England and Japan. Eriol lists Beethoven as his music, and I suddenly feel like my friend isn't entirely a teenager. 

It's not like he's creepy, though I can tell that he could be, but he just seems to know everything in an exceedingly polite way. He's…

While I try to consider a word that best describes Eriol, my subject matter delicately picks up a sushi roll, pops it in his mouth, careful not to touch his mouth to the sticks, then hands them to me. I do the same but with some smoked fish, before Eriol says "This is very nice, who made it?"

"I did."

"It's very good."

I shrug. "Tohru's better. I only cook when I have to."

"You should cook more often," 

There is something almost devious about Eriol's smile when he says it that unsettles me.

"Um… yeah. Well, I'm gonna nap. You can go if you want."

Eriol 'hmms' then sits with his knees near his chin and arms wrapped around them, staring up at the sky. I settle into the grass, and close my eyes to the blue sky.

I open my eyes again to a grey sky with great drops of water falling out of it. 

With an indignant hiss, I grab my lunch things, stuff them back into my backpack, then run for the trees. I hate the rain.

I run back through the undergrowth, past where Yuki and I confronted Fauna and burst out onto the road, where Eriol waits on his bike.

"How far away is your house?" I yell over a burst of thunder, hating the feeling of my shirt starting to stick to my back and cold water running down the back of my neck.

"It's about 15 minutes on a bike,"

I nod. "Alright then, we can shelter at my place."

I run off and hear Eriol peddling behind me.

I can tell that Fauna's communicating with me when I picture myself riding a horse back to my house through the rain, but dismiss the tempting idea. A horse bursting through the bushes and allowing me to ride it bareback back to the house would be just a little too bizarre around Eriol. 

We finally burst back into the cleared space around my house, and I wait shivering on the front porch while my dark-haired companion props his bike up against a tree out of the rain then runs across to me. 

I slam my hand against the front door, but it doesn't open. I move around to one of the sliding side-doors and have it half open when it slams shut again on my fingers. "OW!"

"You're not coming inside like that, think of the floors!"

There is silence for a moment, then the door opens a fraction, and two towels are thrust out. "These are for you and your friend. Don't let your cousins or Tohru in until they're dry either.

I hand the second white towel to Eriol, and we sit down on the deck, watching the rain hitting the ground while drying ourselves. I grin wryly. Today hadn't gone like anything I had hoped for, but it had been an experience even so.

"What's so funny?"

"Yuki, Haru and Tohru have to come back from town in this. I can't wait to see Haru's expression of intense disgust."

Eriol gives me a strange look out of the corner of his eyes.

"What? It's a hobby,"

He laughs, and scrubs at his head with his towel. Eriol's glasses are off and sitting next to him, and it makes him look older, more like he really is my age when he doesn't have them on.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, dripping sorrily, when two dark figures burst into view and tumbled onto the steps: Haru and Tohru.

The hand once again thrusts itself out the door, offering three more towels. "Don't come in until you're dry!" Shigure shrieks.

Haru's towel immediately goes to work on his poor abused leather pants, while I hand another to Tohru, who's hand shakes as she takes it. I put a hand to her forehead, and she barely notices.

"Shigure, open up goddamnit, she's got a fever."

"… is she dry?"

"SHIGURE, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR BEFORE I SIMPLY GO THROUGH IT!"

Shigure opens the door and makes a brief appearance to take Tohru (all the while smiling pervertedly, I am that close to kicking him). 

"Where's Yuki?"

I blink, only just grasping that he isn't there. His garden. He would think about his vegetables at a time like this. I drop my towel, then jump off the deck and run back into the woods. 

The harsh rain that hits my skin seems to almost sizzle with energy, and my Elementals, which had been lurking in the woods waiting, flow back in with me, making me feel stronger. 

This rain shouldn't be, I realise with a moment of clarity, but the Elemental can wait. For now, I have to make sure that Yuki and his weak lungs don't end up with hypothermia or something equally bad in the cruel storm. 

I finally reach the clearing to see a soaked Yuki struggling to spread a piece of black plastic over his crop. He isn't going well, because the edges keep flying up, uncovering what he just covered. 

I reach the edge of the clearing before I am knocked off my feet and back a few paces by a sudden wind. It throws me up against the trunk of a tree, wrapping around me like invisible bindings. A second Elemental, I surmise, and both seem to want to inflict pain upon me. 

The wind whips around my body and holds me up with an invisible force as I struggle against it. 

The breeze penetrates all parts of my body, whistling under my clothing and running through my hair like a gentle hand, and brushes across my skin. My body still tense, I stop struggling, and the bonds loosen.

I am lowered to the ground gently, and the wind gathers together to form the shape of a female. She is clothed in a kimono made out of what looks like mist, and her long white hair flows around her head like a veil. Her lips are light blue, the same shade as her large, jewel-like eyes. 

"Good child."

The voice, low and feminine, sounds in my head. 

"Acceptance is a sign of wisdom. I would not submit to someone that I deemed unworthy, but to you, I bend."

She gives a slow bow, and I nod, rubbing my neck, which is still sore. "Thankyou, Breeze."

Her loose body disbands, and floats gently around me for a few seconds, caressing gently, before being sucked into every pore of my body. 

Something clenches inside, and I cannot breathe. It feels like my body is trying to explode and implode at the same time. Tears come into the corners of my eyes as I can finally suck air back into my lungs, and a trembling hand goes to my chest, massaging it, like that will help relieve the feeling of tension.

I lean my head back against the trunk of the tree that I have fallen against, and try to console myself. 'It only hurts the first time.'

Slowly, I notice that while the sky above is still dark and crackling with energy, the wind has died down to what is usual in a storm. Using the tree as support, I manage to stand, and stare up through the gaps in the branches at the sky. I honestly can't be bothered being calm or awed by anything right now – I am still trying to regain the feeling in the tips of fingers and toes.

"Tempest!"

The sky booms, and briefly, I can see the shape of a long, traditional dragon in the lightning before it shoots down and hits me.

I watch from the ground as the clouds pool together, then follow the blot that is still connected to my chest. Distantly, I can feel that my nerves are on fire, that a tingling is spreading through my entire being. 

When the sky has been drained down to a wintry blue, Yuki is standing over my, yelling something that I cannot hear over the ringing in my ears. I raise my head and shake it slightly, and my ear pop, letting sound back in. 

"Ow…"

Yuki wraps an arm around my waist and helps me to stand. Leaning on each other for support, one soaked through, one still feeling the after effects of being struck by magical lightning, we walk back to the house.

*~*~*~*

_22.10.03 – 8.32 PM_

_I still smell like burning hair. I've had a shower, but I still smell like it. I grilled Shimo as to why he didn't show up for the last few Elementals, and basically all he did was smile mysteriously, and say 'You were never really in danger,'_

_I beg to differ. Breeze was the worst that I have ever felt. I think it's because she is stronger than to others, and therefore makes a bigger impact. _

_Eriol's nice, but he seems to know a lot more than we do. When Yuki and I finally got back to the house (his vegetables are fine, I've put Flora and Blossom onto keeping them healthy), Eriol was smiling like the Cheshire cat, when others looked concerned. He's… Argh._

_He left a little while ago, because we insisted on letting him have dinner, and I am writing this whilst on Tohru watching duty, which basically means that I keep her compress cold and wet, and make sure she's comfortable. She hasn't woken for hours, but she did manage to suffer down the dinner I made for her and the others. Yuki complained in his usual manner that what I make is never as good as what Tohru can do, so it's hard to believe that a few hours ago, he had his arm around my waist. We've been touching a lot more lately, and I'm sure as hell not complaining._

_I hope Tohru gets better soon._

*~*~*~*

I put down my book and tuck my pencil in my pocket as Tohru's wide brown eyes finally open. 

I smile. "How are we?"  
Tohru smiles slightly, looking rather wan. 

A warm hand lands on my shoulder, and I look back at Yuki. 

"I'll look after her now."

"You shouldn't be out of bed either, so leave me to it."

"You were out in the rain just as long as I was, and you had a harder time, too." Yuki says, his eyes explaining what he meant by 'harder time', as their depths swirl amber for a second, Shimo acknowledging me. 

"That's not the point. I'm fine now, and you have a more delicate disposition."

"Delicate enough to beat you systematically?" 

I make a noise of frustration, and Tohru groans and turns over, dislodging her compress. With a sigh I reach over her, take it from where it had fallen, and dip it back in my bowl of cold water. After wringing it out, I place it on her forehead again, and lean back to keep watching her. Yuki crouches down next to my chair, and with his eyes still on Tohru's sleeping form, takes my hand. With a start, I stare down at him from my place, and then shift over slightly, so there is room for both of us on the seat. Yuki looks up at me, and accepts it, and we sit, our knees touching while our 'little sister' slept.

Just a little bot of sap there. Eriol's being strange again, and I leave you there to think of what he might do next. Please review though, reviews make my world go round. 


	7. Six

Greetings and salutations all those out there in the rest of the world. Please enjoy the next chapter and stuff.

*~*~*~*

23.10.03 6.52 AM

I'm getting up bright and early today, partially because with Tohru under the weather I have to cook breakfast, partially because after staying awake most of last night surviving on water and air, I am exceedingly hungry. My neck hurts like I've slept on it badly, but I'm fairly sure I got to bed unscathed. Ah well, I plan to hit the pillow some time this afternoon, and if anyone wakes me up before tomorrow morning, limbs will go flying.

*~*~*~*

I really can't be bothered getting dressed, so I shuffle out of my room and downstairs to start breakfast in a singlet, boxers and socks. I open the door of the fridge, peer inside, and pull out my carton of milk, lifting it to my face and drinking from it in an attempt to wake myself up, enjoying the cook liquid down my throat, waking me from the inside out.

"Enjoying yourself?"

I cough, milk coming out my nose in a show of distinct grace, and turn with a hand over my lower face to glare daggers at Haru. "Whadda ya want?" I mutter, muffled by my hand.

He shrugs his thin shoulders. "Nothin'."

I growl, slam my carton back down on its shelf and collect a cloth from the sink. "Why are you up so early?"

There is silence from behind me, and I guess that means he's shrugged again. 

I clean my hands in the sink, wipe the shelf and objects which I accidentally sprayed, and throw my sponge back into the basin.

I pull a bowl out of a cupboard, and turn on an element, warming it so I can start cooking, ignoring the boy behind me. As I am topping up the water in the rice cooker, constantly in the background my cousin hovers. Some things I simply can't take so comparatively early in the morning. 

"Haru, why are you here?"

Haru pauses for a moment, and I turn to see him leaning heavily on the counter. "Um… About Yuki?"

I go into defensive mode almost immediately. "What about the damn rat?"

Haru looks angry when I call him that, and the look of anger doesn't move from his features as he starts to talk, and I realise that Black Haru's come out to play. "So how long have you been fucking him?"

My face flares up like a light bulb, and I eventually manage to stammer out "Wha-what the fuck are you talking about? The rat?" I force a laugh, and glare at my cousin.

"Hmm." Haru says, looking devious. "Not as protective as I'd thought… does that mean that he's fucking you?"

If it is possible my face goes even redder, and I lean on the bench for support, resisting the urge to push past him and run as fast as I can into the forest. "You're kidding, right? Haru, nothin's been going on… I mean…"

"Oh please, give me more credit than that," he snarls before I can finish, "You were sleeping with your head in his lap last night, and he was stroking your hair!"

What the fuck?!

"Oh god, I feel asleep? Fucking hell… shit almighty… His lap?!"

Haru aims a fist at my face, and I duck it and twirl around until I have my back to one of the side-doors. "Fuck off, Haru, I'm warning you…"

"Both of you fuck off! Tohru's trying to sleep! If you want to fight, then fight outside!" Yuki whispers harshly, giving the impression of raising his voice without doing so. 

Haru catches me off-guard by tackling me in the chest, and we go flying literally out the back door, breaking that, and end up on the lawn outside. I use my position to manoeuvre myself so that I could break his arm if I want to, but Haru breaks out and scrambles to his feet as I do. His foot is aimed at my side and I block it, before I feint a punch so I can kick him in the groin then, as he keels over, knee him in the face. 

Haru blinks up at me from the ground, his black and white hair tousled, and nose bleeding slightly, and I can tell that the normal Haru is back.

I offer my cousin an arm, and help him back to the deck before disappearing inside. I pull some ice out of the freezer and search for a cloth to put them in.

The thought crosses my mind to use the cloth I used to wipe up my nose-milk with, but restrain myself long enough to find a clean one. 

I step over the remains of the door and had the icepack to Haru before disappearing back into the house to start on breakfast.

"…And further more, you two can fix the door." Shigure informs us after a long-winded lecture and a brief bout of mourning.

I guessed that would happen. Whenever Yuki and I rip the walls or break a door (which is getting less and less frequent), he always made us fix it together. 

Yuki drags me off to the side, and starts interrogating me, and I try to ignore the looks that Haru keeps throwing us, while not seeming too jumpy and nervous around Yuki. It's difficult. "What were you two fighting about?"

My eyes connect with Haru's for a second. "What do we usually fight about?"

Yuki frowns, a small crease forming in the middle of his brow. Haru and I usually fight about anything and everything, so it could easily be something as simple as what I was making for breakfast. 

"Couldn't it have waited?"

I stare straight at the ox as I reply. "Only to some."

Shimo and I are sitting in comfortable silence that afternoon, in the recesses of my mind. I'm listening to the rain on my bed, my hands cushioning my head and staring up and my ceiling, and Shimo is perched on the edge of my desk, and looking rather out of place.

The twilight is calming to my frazzled nerves, and I finally have time to think. 

"Jealous people are stupid." I finally say, more to the silence than to anything else.

"Only because you don't have anything to be jealous of right now, Kyo. You've accepted your role as the cat, and therefore you've stopped fighting with Yuki. This confuses Haru, who is used to you being at each other's throats. All he can think of is 'what does he have that I don't?' and so he's jealous." Shimo rattles off, managing to compress an emotion, usually a very fickle thing, into very logical sounding words.

"He completely misinterpreted the scene."

"Only because you let it happen, my dear."

Unable to stop myself from feeling incredulous, I turn my face to my guardian. "So you're saying it it's my fault that I feel asleep on my cousin?"

Shimo raises a perfect red eyebrow at me. "Isn't it?"

"I'm not complaining, but you're making it sound like it was a conscious decision. Like I thought 'I know, let's fall asleep on my enemy's lap and see how much shit I can stir up! Yes! That would be fun,'"

"Didn't you? You let yourself become comfortable with what has been happening, so your defences slipped. This allowed your system to lull, and you fell asleep."

"I was tired!"

"You could have gotten a second chair,"

"That's not the…. Ugh!"

"Is anything wrong? Are you ill?"

"No," I grumble. "Just annoyed. Why would he do that? Or was Haru just exaggerating? You live in his head, you should know…"

Shimo smiles slightly. "I think he would prefer that you asked him, not his parasite."

"You're not a parasite, you're just there."

"It all depends on your view, my dear." Shimo stares up at the ceiling, pulling one of his legs up onto my chair and wrapping his long arms around it. 

I close my eyes, and quickly move over to where Yuki is slumped.

The door slides open ahead of me as I carry Yuki towards my door, then slides shut behind me. Trying not to get too caught-up in the smell of his hair, I open the door to Yuki's room with my mind, and deposit him on his bed, carefully removing his shoes and closing his window and curtains. I leave the room and shut his door quietly behind him to run head-on into Haru. He looks at me suspiciously as he realises where I just came from, then sidles past me to sneak a peek into Yuki's room.

"He asleep." He murmurs eventually.

"Yes, I know. He's also fully clothed."

My point made, I head back into my room, and don't emerge until I have to make dinner.

*~*~*~*

23.10.03 8.34PM

Tohru got up for dinner this night, she appears to be over her flu, but she's still very tired. I suspect that it's more the build up of having so many things to do around the house that has contributed to her condition, as well as her part-time jobs. I don't know how she does it, but I intend to help where I can. Tohru was on the phone tonight, and tells us that Uo and Hana are coming around tomorrow. Whoo. The tom-boy and the freak. I know that I shouldn't be so mean, but it's hard not to resent Uo when she keeps threatening your life, and it's hard to see Hana as an actual person when she keeps staring at you with her bland eyes like you've done something… I don't know what it is, but like I've done something. Creepy. 

*~*~*~*

Uo and Hana arrive bright an early, when I'm washing up the dishes. Uo sticks her head through the door, and I tell her over the noise of running water that Tohru's in her room. Uo stops to smirk at me as she passes, her blonde head cocked slightly to one side. 

"How very domesticated of you," she leers. 

I snarl at her "Get lost, onna."

With a smile, she moves past me, and gives Hana room to pause. Her hands clasped in front of her, her demeanour doesn't seem to match her vaguely Mortisha-like black dress. She squints slightly, then takes a step forward, her body only inches away from mine. I press my body back against the bench, my soapy wet hands clutching desperately at the sink.

"Your aura looks different."

The air between us almost seems to sizzle, but I refuse Fauna's request to allow itself to become a wild-cat and savage the 'outsider'. For an Elemental that chased me through the forest as an elephant, it seems to be one of the ones who most want to stick up for me. My Elementals near the surface of my skin, I can feel Breeze floating around the back of my mind, and Fauna raging in my chest, all are prepared for an attack. Tempest collects itself in the middle of my body, and in a spark that only I catch, strikes Hana.

She blinks like coming out of a trance, and walks away like she's in a trance.

Tempest tells me that all it did was temporarily dissolve the static around her body, and that she couldn't 'read me' any more. I briefly wonder how it is that the spirits which inhabit my body are so much more clued-in than I am, but eventually turn back to my work, mentally calming my tense Elementals, and thanking Tempest. I pull the plug and wipe my hands on a dishcloth before heading back upstairs so I can take my place on the roof.

Yuki is emerging from his room as I go past, but I refuse eye contact and try to sidle past. 

He grabs my trailing hand with his thin by surprisingly strong one, and stares at me sternly. 

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you… heh… why would you think that?"

I enter deer-caught-in-headlights mode, and stare stupidly as Yuki runs his violet eyes quickly up and down my body. I can't help but feel almost naked under his stare. He takes a step towards me, closing the distance between our bodies, and I step back again, stupidly pining myself to the wall as Yuki steps forward again. 

My breath quickens as I start feeling the heat from his body, but I refuse to look up into his eyes. His other hand grasps my chin, and he forces my eyes up to his. 

"What is it?"

"Um… about last night…"

"What about it?"

Over his shoulder, I see Haru come to the top of the stairs, and instantly panic. "Na… nothing!"

I dance away and disappear into my room as I hear raised voices from beyond it. I open my window with a thump and stare out at the sky beyond, deciding not to go onto the roof, but frustrated with nowhere else to escape to. I turn away from the grey sky and walk over to my desk to pick up my pen with a shaking hand.

*~*~*~* 

24.10.03 9.21AM

That's it, everyone is officially being avoided. The world is acting crazy, so I'll do the crazy thing myself, and become a hermit and live in the woods in a tent like Tohru did. Well, that's probably an exaggeration, but this is getting out of hand. Yuki and Haru have just stopped yelling at each other, and Yuki's screen door just made it's best attempt at a slam. Wait, there we go, Haru just slammed the door to the guest bedroom as well… I'm stuck in between the bedrooms of two psychopaths. That's it! I know where I can go, how could I forget?

*~*~*~*

I place my notebook down, lie on my bed, and finally find solitude and peace in my own mind.

There. No actual card-y-ness in this chapter, but I still enjoyed the tension between Kyo, Haru and Yuki. Jealousy can be an ugly thing. ^-^

Thanks to all my reviewers, please continue to do so, all that have so far, and anyone else is welcome to do so as well. Reviews make my world go round; without them, I might be stuck in the dark.


	8. Seven

I'd like to first of all thank all my faithful and kind reviewers for telling me what they like about my writing. You people make my day.

The usual disclaimers apply.

The rain beats against my window like tiny, angry fists. Where I lie, the air is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, but still seeming dense around me. It's been raining for a while, I can tell because the entire house smells of it. I take my time checking in the guest rooms, looking at Haru's bags, but finding no sign of the actual person, and taking great pleasure in finding neither Yuki, Shigure, Uo, Hana or Tohru around. Where I am, this house is mine. 

I step outside and onto the deck, stretching my arms. The ground under my feet feels warm but solid, like the rain has no effect on it. 

Mist wraps around everything, leaving only the tips of the trees, black and stark against an autumn sky indistinct. The path leading from the house is a white avenue that seems to lead off into eternity. The rain is only a mild annoyance, and I brush it away as one might do with a fly.

A gentle wind stirs against my moist skin, and I can feel Breeze around me.

'Mists cover you mind. They are of your making, and you will never succeed unless they are removed. This rain that you feel is malleable. It wants you, but cannot reach you when you hide in shelter. Let your spirit guide you through the recesses of your mind.'

Breeze caresses me gently, and I speak to it out loud, breaking the peaceful solitude that has always been present.

"Breeze, move this fog. Make it move."

I feel something building up behind myself. The air seems to tingle with energy, and suddenly a gale blows past me, and into the still air in front of me. I can see the indistinct form of Breeze as the corners of the mist start to move, then it seems to lash out at her in return. The wind falters, but then returns in greater strength. A clear path is cleaved through the middle of the fog, scattering it.

"Bright!"

The land lights up with incandescence, and I feed my power through our link into my Elementals. The vapour shows up suddenly white against the land and it breaks up into small groups. The wind slackens from a second, then at my command, pushes in from all side, forcing the mist into one place, and the pressure created there booms, and spreads out over the clouds, rippling like a stone dropped in calm water. From the depths of the forest, I can hear Tempest and Fauna returning the calls, one like a roaring tiger, and the other an inhumane bellow that I can only place with the dragon made of lightning that I had only seen for a brief instance.

The woman formed there glares at me with milky eyes, her long body stiff with anger as her hair flows out from behind her tiara. 

I meet her gaze and bow slightly, waiting patiently until she bows grudgingly back.

"Fog. You may spread over this land, but no longer cloud my eyes. By this name I bind you, and my call you must obey."

If anything, she becomes more hostile, but knows as well as I do that she can do little about it, as I have named her.

"If you must obey me, for I may have need of you," I suddenly drop the formality that my Elementals seem to respect before continuing, "could we at least try to get along?"

Fog bows again, then with a snap then boom, it is spread across the land once more, but lighter, thin enough that I can see through it. The air feels thinner, no longer pressing in on me, but still it's rather vague temperature. 

I turn my eyes to the heavens, and Tempest burst out of the forest with a bellow. It drives its long and winding body into the clouds, and thunder rumbles, loud enough to shake the ground. Lightning arches out of the sky and hits the ground at my feet, and once it clears, there is a small blue creature sitting on a piece of charred land.

It's head is almost triangle shaped, and covered almost entirely by huge, liquid blue eyes. It opens it's muzzles and whines pathetically.

With a smile, I crouch down next to it. "Hello, little one. Are you the rain?"

It looks up at me with its huge eyes, almost accusing.

"I'm sorry. I knew no other way of getting your attention, not that I am very interesting compared to your wonderful clouds,"

Flattery never hurt anyone, and this little Elemental's ego was fried. Literally.

It made a happy noise, and bounced onto its feet.

I offer it a hand. "Well Downpour, it is nice to meet you."

It places its small fuzzy blue paw in my palm, and we shake. 

It only strikes me later how bloody ridiculous this is. 

I open my eyes again once I have returned to my bed, and am hit with a sudden layer of fatigue.

My eyes feel gluey, and after only a few seconds, they close again, the pounding in my head relentless until I finally sink into dreams.

*~*~*~*

24.10.03 4.17 PM

Avoiding everyone has to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. There's a lot of subterfuge and sneaking involved, which I am not good at. Thankfully enough, as the cat, I have fairly quiet steps. Shigure's still playing recluse, and Tohru's disappeared into her room with her scary little friends. That only leaves Yuki and Haru to deal with. Generally, I can outsmart Haru, but Yuki is one tough cookie. I doubt Shimo would help me keep away from him, because lately all he's good for is looking pretty. He tells me if there is ever any real danger he'll be there like a flash, but for the last several Elementals he's either let Yuki help me, or let me deal with it on my own. It is getting easier now though, as I have more and more Elementals under my control that I can use. 

But that's still not the point, I'm starting to feel both severely under appreciated in one circumstance, and crowded in the other. In one sense I'm being practically stalked, and in the other, I feel like I'm in it on my own.

It's just too much for my brain right now, which is still doing flips. I need a shower.

*~*~*~*

Shade slips out under my door, and comes back a few seconds later to cast itself on the wall, and give me the 'all clear' signal. With clean clothing in one hand and my towel in the other, I sneak out, and then shimmy in the bathroom door so it doesn't creak, before locking it securely after myself. With a relieved sigh, I drop my bundle of clean things near the door, and strip off.

A quick glance in the mirror confirms that I have lost weight, I'm teetering on the edge of skinny instead of just wiry, and so as not to dwell on this thought, I turn on the shower with a twist of a faucet.

As steam fills the room and I stand there and enjoy the changing temperature and the mirror glossing over with moisture until the shower reaches as close to the perfect temperature as I can get it, warm, but not too warm as to scald.

I gratefully step into the stream of steaming water and feel my body relax almost instantly. I turn around away from it and tip my head back until water is running in rivulets down my face, and reach for the shampoo.

"AAH! COLD!"

My feet slip on the ground as I rip open the shower door and jump out like I have been stung. The water had become suddenly icy.

Suspiciously, I place my hand back into the flow of water, and stare at it with confusion as it runs warm again.

"Kyo? Daijoubu ka?" Yuki yells through the door.

"I'm fine. It's just the fucking shower."

Footsteps move away from the door and I let out a breath I hadn't realised that I had been holding. Gathering my nerves, I step back into the shower.

"EARGH!" I scream, once again abandoning the shower, "WHO THE HELL IS PLAYING WITH THE FAUCETS?!"

I reach in, keeping the bulk of my body behind the glass door, and turn off the taps. I stomp over to the towel rack muttering darkly, and wrap my towel hastily around my waist. The door slams open in front of me, and I stalk out and down the hallway for a few paces to the closet, which houses the water heater for the house. I rip the door open, and stare in shock at the ice-covered cylinder.

"Kyo-kun? What are you doing?"

I slam the door shut and turn around, pressing myself against it and trying to hold my towel up at the same time. "Nothing, I'm not doing anything, Tohru, why would you think that?" I laugh nervously, and hitch my towel up once more.

Tohru gives me a strange look, and with a slightly worried smile turns and walks off.

I hold my breath until I can't see her anymore, then with an explosive sigh; I spin back around and glare at the source of my discomfort.

Opening the door confirms it; the entire cylinder is covered with ice about three inches thick.

Yuki walks up behind me, and in business mode, I mutter, "Shimo, how am I supposed to deal with this? If it was an elemental it would be fine and dandy, but this is just one's handy work. It's gone now."

Yuki's body shrugs it's shoulder slightly, taking on the mannerisms of Shimo. "Wait for it to defrost?"

I turn around and glare at him. "Do you have any idea how long that will take, and what kind of mess something like that would leave?"

"Well, unless you've caught the defrosting Elemental without telling me, I believe that's all you can do." Shimo tells me dryly.

"This sucks." I growl. "How am I supposed to have a shower now?"

Shimo's face looks almost pained. "I think that's the last thing we need to be worried about."

"Oh yeah? And what's the first thing?"

"How you're going to explain to Shigure, Tohru and Hatsuharu why the hot water cylinder is like that."

With a groan, I massage my eyes with one of my hands. "I'm too young to die of stress."

"And too old to sulk." Shimo reprimanded, before closing his eyes and opening them again when they had returned to their usual shade of dark violet. Yuki blinked at me blankly for a second, then his face took on a more determined look.

"Kyo…"

My towel slips and I hastily catch it, then burst in with, "Is wearing little to nothing! I have to get dressed now!"

I slip past him, clinging to my towel like it's a safety blanket, and quickly close the door to the bathroom behind myself.

I hear Yuki's steps stop outside the door as I hover near it, and I flick the lock into place.

There is silence for a few more moments, before I hear him sigh, and move off.

I glance down at my pile clothing, and resist the urge to scream. They're coated in ice.

I grab Shigure's dressing gown from the hook on the back of the door and slip it on, hurriedly tying the front, and ply my clothes-sickles from the floor with a quite a lot of cursing and swearing.

I wrap them in my towel, send Shade out to scout again before scampering back to my room and shutting the door with a sigh after me. I lean against it for support, and stare up at the ceiling for a moment before dropping my bundle to the floor with a thump, and walking slowly over to my wardrobe for more clothing. 

Someone knocks on my door, and then Yuki's familiar voice calls through to me. "Kyo? Can I come in?"

There's silence for a heartbeat then I reply. "If you insist,"

The door slides open, and Yuki enters. "Kyo, I know why you've been avoiding me,"

My face reddens slightly, and I refuse to turn around. "Well, then? What's this grand revelation that you've had?"

His arms slip around my waist from behind and he steps forward, pressing his body loosely to mine and leaning his head on my shoulder. "When you fell asleep on me when we were looking after Tohru."

If I had been stiff before, my limbs are locked even tighter before, and I try to force the rising blush on my face back down. My voice breaks slightly. "A-and?"

"Kyo, I want to get to know you better. You should know now that I like you… a lot, and Shimo tells me you feel the same."

Why that stinking, conniving little spirit.

I pull away, and turn around to face him, trying to look furious but failing miserably. "What would Shimo know on the matter!?"

Yuki, unfazed, steps forward again, and kisses me lightly on the lips. "Just as much as you do." He steps back again, and runs a shaking hand through his hair. I only just realised how nervous he is. "Think about it, would you?"

*~*~*~*

24.10.03 8.52 PM

'Think about it' he told me. And I have. So has my fucking libido as well though. The memory of his lips pressed against mine is just…

Nyah. I doubt I'll sleep much tonight.

Damn him, damn him to the fiery depths of hell for making me feel like this. Everything is scattered, just floating loosely. I can't remember what I just wrote, all I do if left alone is just sit here.

It's pathetic.

Damn him.

*~*~*~*

A big thanks to Crystal for offering me a place in her archives, Yamatoforever to be my most faithful reviewer, and Caer, for being relevant, leaving nice reviews and returning to me. ^-^


	9. Eight

I live once more. To Caer: How do I do it? It's called having no life to speak of. I send it to school so I can work on it in class time, then send it home for modifications at night. 

To Yamatoforever: How do you do it? You just seem to know what's gonna be in the chapter before I even write it… Creepy. 

A great big 'thank thee' to all the other reviewers I've had. You guys rock an' stuff.

insert disclaimer here

I lie in my bed and stare at the ceiling. The sun has only just decided to rise, sending pale, pre-dawn light through my curtains and casting itself over my still form. 

I don't know if I can avoid him anymore; just try to pretend that nothing ever happened. I doubt that I can go back to the thinking of mere weeks ago, that he was the Rat, I was the Cat, and that was that. It feels more like months than days. 

What's happening with Yuki doesn't seem to rile on my nerves as it had before, it seems almost like an inevitable, inexorable process, this changing of feelings and outlooks. I'm not (ever) going to talk about destiny or some shit like that, but this all seems too casual, like it's just something that happens. That's what pisses me off.

I try to circumvent and deny it more out of denying its sake, and therefore subconsciously, my own stupidity annoys me.

It's amazing what seems clear when you're still in that Zen-like state of half alertness. I raise one of my hands above my head, then run it through my hair, and reality snaps back into place with an involuntary groan.

Just because I know that I shouldn't avoid it doesn't mean I know what I should actually do about it.

Staying in bed seems like a good idea today; just keeping both the curtains and my eyes closed.

"Kyo-kun?" my eyes snap back open to full light when my door slides open slightly, and Tohru pokes her head in. "Will you eat, or should I put the breakfast things away?"

My face buried in the crook of my arm, which is flung over my face to block out the light, I mutter a muffled "I'll be down soon,"

I guess Tohru nods or something, because the door clicks shut again, and I wonder briefly why my curtains are so thin before swinging my feet to the floor in one movement, then compensating for my lurching head.

I blearily rub my eyes, and then shuffle downstairs to the kitchen table. I plop down in the chair opposite Haru and blink stupidly at my lap until a bowl of hot soup is placed in front of me. I could do with some milk, but really don't feel like moving. Movement requires too much effort.

I haven't felt this wiped out for ages, not since New Years and I had to stay up virtually all night in a family ceremony/party. 

My carton of milk lands next to me, and I turn around to thank Tohru. 

Haru's look is incredulous as I once again enter deer-caught-in-headlights mode, staring up at violet eyes as they stare back into mine. Okay, so it wasn't Tohru.

Blushing unintentionally, I look away, suddenly finding a piece of onion in my soup fascinating.

Haru sighed wearily, and mutters "So you two still haven't sorted out your shit?"

Before either of us can snarl a reply, as it looks like both of us want to (surprisingly enough), Haru shoves back his chair, places his bowl in the sink, thanks Tohru, and saunters out of the kitchen

The room is silent for a moment, and then blushing, Tohru excuses herself as well. 

They're all against me.

Yuki moves around the table, one of his hands trailing lightly from my forearm to a place in front of where he stops, and he sits down opposite me in Haru's vacated seat. 

"Do you hate me, Kyo?"

There is silence while I consider the weight of this question.

"Sometimes. But I don't understand you more frequently. You, you're so different to myself, I don't understand why you do things; the way you think. It's all a mystery to me."

Yuki nods, his fingers twisting together on the tabletop. His usual calm demeanour is gone, and both of us are stuck in unknown territory. "I understand."

"Do you?" I answer sharply, staring up at my cousin.

"Yes," he replies, bordering on quiet, "You're the same way to me."

Wow, the almighty prince of icy-ness is confused by little old me. I start feeling… I don't think you could call it sympathetic, more like empathy toward him.

"If it makes you feel better… They say mysteries are half the fun of life…"

Yuki smiles slightly. "Eat your soup. I saw your body last night, you're not eating enough."

"Why were you paying that much attention to my body?!" I snarl, blushing again.

"Because," Yuki stated, like it was the most simple thing in the world, "you don't seem to."

"Hey, I clean it, I groom it, I feed it occasionally," I list, ignoring Yuki's snort, "what more can a person want?" I ask, waving my spoon around.

Yuki looks like he's going to say something, then he shuts his mouth once more. 

I shovel the lukewarm soup into my mouth while Yuki sits in silence, and I swallow before continuing.

"What were you…"

Before I can finish my sentence, there is a piercing shriek from upstairs. Something heavy drops into the pit of my stomach, as I realise that I haven't checked the water cabinet this morning.

"Oh shit…"

"You think Shigure knows?" Yuki asks me drolly, and I shoot him a venomous look before walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs to meet my fate.

I am met by Shigure on the stairs, wringing his hands with tears streaming down his face. "I…bath… water… coooooold… ice…. INJUSTICE… noooooo…"

"I… guess you'll just have to wait for it to melt…"

Shigure gives me a highly offended look, then shoves dramatically by me to scamper down the stairs and into his room, his door slamming as best it can behind him, then bouncing open again. The thudding footsteps stop, turn around, then slam the door again, this time with cursing.

"If he commits suicide, we're blaming you, baka neko."

"What?! How is this my fault!" I pause, "Wait, don't answer that question…" 

I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose. 

"So," Yuki asks quietly, "Do we want to try and get the ice off, or find whatever did it first?"

"Let's go kick some Elemental butt. I need a shower."

*~*~*~*

25.10.03 9.42 AM

Tell me again why we're doing this? 

I want someone to tell me in reasonable terms, why I am standing in the middle of a frosty forest during the middle of autumn?

I hate the cold. I should be wrapped up in bed at home right now, or at least somewhere with a heater. Possibly both. Nyah… Yuki's sitting on a fallen tree a few feet away from me, his gloved hands clasped together in front of him, and expression pensive. Does he have any nerves whatsoever? Does he feel the freezy-ness of the temperature at all?

My breath is a mist in front of my face that is pretty, but somewhat annoying.

I feel like the only thing stopping me from freezing in place is my pen moving across this page.

*~*~*~*

I shove my pen into the pocket of my jacket, then turn to Yuki.

"Hey Yuki?"

"mmm?"

"Why are we here?"

Yuki turns from his contemplation to face me. "I could ask you the same question."

"Does this count as using yourself as bait?"

"Sort of," Yuki murmurs, his eyes focused on the area near my feet, "Kyo, I suggest you move."

"What?"

"Move your feet, baka."

I try to shift my feet slightly, then stare down at my ice-covered boots. "Oh, god!" I manage to choke out.

"Take off your boots," Yuki tells me in a deadly calm voice, and I comply, my fingers fumbling with the half-frozen laces. "Now step out of them, and come over here."

I left my sock-covered feet out of my shoes, and scamper across the cold ground to where Shimo now stands, his tawny eyes watching the sheet of ice that follows.

When I come in reach of him, Shimo's arms shoot out and grab me around the waist. He tugs me towards him, and his huge wings open, pushing us off the ground.

A ragged pillar of ice shoots off the ground and tries to follow us, but (even while screaming at the top of my lungs) I manage to rouse Tempest enough to strike it with a bolt of lightning. The pillar shudders then explodes into needlepoints of ice, which glitter as they spray over the surrounding area. 

Tempest's true form bursts from the clouds above us, and wraps it's long body around another column that shoots up to where we fly, high above the treetops. 

Inside me, I can feel the rest of my Elementals fighting to get free themselves and fight as well. I loosen my hold on Breeze, and her form unravels slowly into the air in front of me, then shoots off towards where Tempest fights.

The 'breeze' that follows its path is little short of a gale, and Shimo and I are tossed ungracefully through the air like a child's play toy. 

"Shimo, let go!"

Shimo obeys, and I fall straight through the tree tops to land crouched on the ground, buffering myself with breezes and magic.

A finger of ice reaches through the forest towards me, and I fend it off with wind, blowing it sideways and off course. The sky overhead rumbles, then a flash of lightning reaches out of the sky and wraps around it. 

The ice trembles, then explodes, and I only just get my hands up in time to cover my eyes before the rest of my body is covered in tiny, paper-cut like slits that all, predictably, sting like bastards.

Shimo's red-nailed feet land next to my head, and he crouches down next to me.

"Kyo! Are you okay?"

I uncurl slightly. "GodDAMNIT!"

The sky seems to tear itself apart with my anger, and the largest fork of lightning that I've ever seen rears out of the sky, and hits the centre of the ice field.

The ice rips through the trees like bullets, and the only reason that I am not shredded by the end of it, is because of Shimo. He unfolds smoothly to his feet and raises a hand. 

The ice hits the air around us bounces off a bubble of what appears to be solid air.

"Now, Kyo. While it's weak."

I stumble to my feet and shakily gather my energy together. "ICY! Come here NOW!"

The ice pieces almost seem to stop, then start struggling in mid-air. A wind kicks up and blows them towards me, and they swirl for a moment, before settling into a solid form.

What forms is almost like the abominable snowman, but it's more like an abominable iceman. It roars as me, clearly hostile with it's ape-like face set in a mask of fury.

"Icy, you will not do that again, unless I tell you to." I order, trying to seem strong though my whole body throbs and the blood dry on my skin makes me want to instinctively reach up and wipe my face. "You are dismissed."

I think Icy enjoys causing me pain because I black out the next instant, as Icy comes into me.

I chip at the mostly melted ice around the hot-water cylinder with a slightly bent fork, trying to rid it of the wet shell that is around it.

Yuk is kneeling next to me, collecting up the pieces that I have managed to hew off and placing them into a bowl.

My eyes scanning over it, spot a slight air bubble, and attack that. There is a cracking noise, then half the casing dislodges, and falls wetly into me.

"Bleargh! Yuck!" I shake the fragments out of my hair, then pull off my sodden jumper before turning to my sniggering cousin. "You think this is funny, huh?"

"I know its funny." He tells me, smiling. 

"Screw you, man."

"Is that a challenge?"

I 'eep' as he crawls across the floor towards me, and runs a damp hand down the side of my face. He closes the space between us, leaning over where I sprawl to press his soft lips against mine.

I reach an arm up to hook around his neck and prop myself up on my other elbow as our kiss, or longest so far, becomes more intense.

"Ah!"

There is an exclamation behind us, and I tip my hand back to spy a starry-eyed Shigure.

"Inspiration!" he cries, then scurries off again.

I turn to a pale Yuki, who is still leaning over me. "That doesn't sound promising."

He moves away, then runs a hand through his hair. "No, it doesn't. If we see a book of his called 'Sojourn in the Linen Closet', we're going to have to kill him."

"Agreed."

"Help me with this, would you?" Yuk asks me, lifting one half of the ice chunk only to have it break again into smaller pieces on his lap.

"Now you know how I feel," I laugh.

"Just help me, baka neko." He growls in reply.

Well, forgive me for a bit of artistic lisence, but I figure if he can jump out his classroom window and keep running, Kyo can drop through the trees unscathed.

Please remember to kindly review if you think it's worthy of it, because reviews make my world go round and without them, I might be stuck in winter. 


	10. Nine

Heh, sorry about the wait. I went on holiday for a bit, and forgot to update before I left. My arms are peeling.

In other news, I would like to stress two facts that keep popping up: a) this is a Y/K fic. Yuki is the more dominant one in this pairing. B) I haven't seen much of Fruits Basket, in fact, what I have seen has been in Japanese with subtitles in Chinese, neither of which I know. Well, I'm learning Jap, but not that much; basically all I recognise are the insults. This is why I might seem to move around some characters, and avoid trying to write them too much. I don't want to screw them up monumentally. This is also why Kyo/Yuki/whoever might seem a bit OOC sometimes. What I'm going by is vague.

It is the holidays now though, and I should hopefully get a few more updates done then. Heh…

Apart from the fact that at the start of January I'm going to Japan on an exchange. I wont be back until February. Oops. It was my birthday though, a few days ago! Go me!

Alright, you're all probably sick of me, so here's the fic.

If you want a disclaimer, check the other chapters. I don't own Jack. But I do know one, if that's any consolation…

*~*~*~*

26.10.03 4.53 PM

Had my first shower for a while this morning; good thing, because I was starting to smell. Haru's going away in two days time, I know it's a bit rude, but I'm counting down the days until this place returns to normal. Well, if I look at it like that, counting down until normality, I'll be at it for the rest of my natural life. We're just not that sort of family.

Shigure keeps sniggering when he sees Yuki and I together, occasionally making snide comments, and it's pissing Haru off. I think Yuki's taking the 'don't tell him, just hope he'll figure it out on his own' approach, either that or he thinks there's nothing to tell him.

Either way, so long as Haru stops throwing me dirty looks, by either leaving us alone for the rest of the holidays or accepting it, I'm happy. I've still got weeks of freedom left. Thank all things holy.

*~*~*~*

"Stop scratching them," Yuki tells me sharply, glaring as I play with one of the minute scabs on my arm. I pull my pencil away from the page, and slam my book shut.

"They're annoying! I can't do anything without bumping them. I wish in my infinite wisdom of 'stuff' or whatever, I could figure out a way to make them go away." I complain, removing my hands and balling them at my sides.

I hear a chuckle from my cousin. 

"Poor kitten," Yuki murmurs, moving closer to me.

"Wait, 'kitten'?! The hell was that? I'm nobody's kitten!" I shove him off, pouting. 

"Is the kitten's fur ruffled?" Yuki is obviously teasing me now.

"Is the little rat offering to fix it for me?" I ask in the same sugary tones that he used on me, before poking my tongue out at him.

Yuki laughs softly. "Baka neko."

Yuki straightens up on the couch and focuses his eyes on the television once more, an arm still slung over the back of the couch behind me in a little show of possessiveness.

Daytime television. Is there nothing worse? Yuki flicks past a commercial for some sort of frying pan, a dodgy-looking soap opera before finally halting on a music channel.

"This bites." I comment, mostly to the world in general.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

"Well, I could… what's up with that smirk? Stop looking at me like that."

I stand up quickly, run a hand through my hair. My cheeks feel like they're on fire. "Well, I think I'm gonna… ha... I'll see you."

I run up the stairs, stride down the hallway, practically killing Haru, and slink into my room.

I close the door behind me, and let out an explosive breath, my face still red. The anger and frustration that has been building up in my chest lets itself out in the form of self-abuse, as I yell "you IDIOT!" I start pacing my floor. "I mean you- it was- IDIOT!"

My hand rakes through my abused hair once more. I stride over to my window and climb out it onto the roof. I hoist myself over the edge, and slide myself into place to stare at the sky. It might snow sometime soon.

My eyes slide shut, and slowly my frustration calm to a level where I can actually sleep.

Something comes up the gravel pathway, and then a car door slams, followed by another.

A door rumbles open below me, followed by an exclamation of "Hello! Where's Kyo!" which is even louder that the other all too familiar squeals.

My eyes shoot open. I know that voice. Entirely too well.

Tohru says something softly, so all I hear is the murmur of her voice.

I sit up and raise my neck so that I can see the top of the car, and Kagura backs into view, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun so she can stare up at me through the sun in her eyes.

Deer-caught in headlights.

"HI KYO! Come down and greet me!" Kagura yells up to me, waving an arm over her head. She's still wearing her kitty backpack.

My first response is to duck my head and pretend I hadn't seen, or heard her. 

If only that would work. I'm just feeling too sore and bitter to be beaten to a bloody pulp right now. 

My second response is the urge to yell back 'do I have to?', but I fear that may make her come after me.

This, too, would end in a beating. As far as I can tell, when I'm around the boar, existence ends in a beating.

And I'm too much of a gentleman to fight back. Ah, how Shimo would laugh to hear that.

My heart heavy in my chests, I slide my self down the roof feet first, then drop over the edge onto the ground. Taa daa, the amazing appearing love-interest, I think as Yuki glances as me, then Kagura smiles. 

Ayame, who obviously drove the girl is over on the deck clutching hands and squealing with Shigure about some inane thing that obviously merited a visit, and Haru's lurking in the background.

"Kyo!" the angelic side of the boar says. Her face suddenly darkens. "Why haven't you called?"

Her fist collides with my jaw.

A frown is cast across my face. "I was in physical danger that time." I sullenly point out. 

Shimo chuckles. "Not really. She always eventually stops."

I stare at him flatly, trying to frown more, but only succeeding in agitating one of my newly acquired bruises.

"She does," he repeated.

"That's not the point. Aren't you supposed to be protecting me?"

"I will. But not against a young woman with an aggression problem. Frankly, both of us have decided to keep out of that."

Ah. So they're still conspiring against me. Both my cousin, and the creation of my own mind. Wonderful.

"Don't worry, you'll heal." Shimo tells me, patting me on the arm. He ignores my wince of pain. "You heal faster than normal."

I rub the bridge of my nose, probably the only part of my face that doesn't hurt, with one of my hands, closing my eyes and sighing at the same time. The my other arm is wrapped around my knee, drawing one leg close to my chest, but with the other stretched out in front of me. "Still not getting the point…"

Shimo smiles at me like a patient teacher trying to explain something simple to a slow but loved student. "I don't think you have a point. You're just upset again."

Grr.

I let go of my knee, and slide down to lie on the floor of my room. "If you're done destroying my dreams…" I say dryly, meaning for my words to be taken as a dismissal.

Shimo snorts. "Drama queen." He retorts, before sighing. "Yuki wants to speak with you."

A patch of the ceiling at the edge of my vision is lit up for a few seconds before fading, and Yuki collapses next to me, one of his outstretched hands near my cheek.

I wonder briefly if I should just let him lie there like that until he wakes up; sprawled across my floor lying flat on his face. But that would be rude. I prop myself up onto my elbows, and roll him onto his stomach with a foot. 

Yuki groans, and I poke him again with my toes. His eyes slide open a fraction, and he lifts his head off the ground to scan the room. 

"Well?"

Yuki blinks slowly at me, like his brain is only just sliding back into place.

"Shimo said you wanted to talk to me?" I prompt.

He makes a sound of recognition, and after a moment to gather himself, rolls onto his side to face me, and slides one of his hands over mine, running his thumb over the back of it like he's unsure where to settle it. "What's wrong?"

"Heh… what's wrong with what?" I ask, trying not to sound to nervous.

He frowns slightly, his perfectly arched brows drawing closer to his eyes. To most people it would be almost an unrecognisable gesture, but to me, I knew it was a sign of concern. "You're doing it again."

I don't say anything, and he continues. "You suddenly seize up, or find something else to do when I try to…"

I suddenly giggle nervously, interrupting him, which is both completely out of character, and a dead give away.

I receive a very dry look.

"Am I making you nervous?"

 A small bit of anger smothers some of my nerves, and I manage to growl out, partially convincingly, "Why would I be afraid of you?"

To prove his point, Yuki levers himself into a sitting position and connects his lips to mine. Everything goes well for a few seconds, until his free hand creeps under the hem of my shirt. With a squeak, I drop my elbows so my back hits the ground, and roll in the opposite direction. "Whaddid you do that for!?"

"Normal people enjoy that."

"And you'd know from experience?" I ask dryly, raising an eyebrow as he flushes and looks away.

Yuki quickly changes the topic back. "Do you see what I mean?"

I remain silent.

"You're uncomfortable. I'm taking things too quickly?"

I nod sharply, not trusting myself to speak just yet.

"Right then. I'll keep that in mind."

He moves to stand up, but a catch one of his hands. "It's not that I… Just not yet. I don't know how far you plan to go when you… So I…"

"Run away screaming?"

"I wouldn't go that far." I growl.

My door slams open, and my hand is instantly at my side, as I stare blankly up a Kagura.

"I heard a thump and… Oh, you two haven't been fighting, have you? Yuki, you're probably the reason why my poor Kyo is injured…" she mourns, before yanking me to my feet in a negligently rough way, and hauling me over to my bed. She pushes me onto it, then steps back. "But don't you worry, Kyo-kun, I shall tend to your wounds!"

Kagura tucks me in with more force than is necessary as I growl and complain.

"I don't need you to 'tend to my wounds!' You created the wounds, you freak!"

Smack.

"Oh, my poor Kyo is already delirious. I'll make you a nutritious soup, that will have you back on your feet in no-time!"

God help me.

Kagura bustles out of the room, and then disappears down the stairs. Yuki stands up gracefully; smooths non-existent wrinkles out of his clothing, shoots me a wry smile, and then abandons me as well.

When I can make sure that everyone is definitely gone, I slip back the covers, and tiptoe over to my desk to get my diary, which is currently in the shadow of my bin next to it. I turn on the light to define the shadow better, then fumble around for a few moments. 

Nothing.

I suspiciously lift the bin, but even when the shadow's gone, I see nothing. 

Trying to not freak out, I pull shadow back from the book, but still see nothing. I take a shuddering breath in, and retreat back to my bed, to sort out when I had last seen it. 

My bed is gone as well. 

"Noooooo…"

I don't want to interrupt Kagura, the last thing she needs to see is both me out of bed, and my bed missing, so I sneak cautiously out of my room, and poke my head into Yuki's.

"Yuki! Shimo! I don't care! Just get your ass in here!" I whisper harshly. 

Yuki looks up from his desk, pen poised. "What kind of problem is it?"

"Things are going missing,"

Yuki raises an eyebrow. "And this is supposed to be a needful concern?"

"I mean big things. My bed is fucking missing."

"Your bed?"

"You know, wooden with a mattress, looks like yours?"

Yuki gives me a withering look, then finally slides back his chair to join me. 

"Found it." Yuki stoically tells me, his head still out the window. 

"What?!" I hiss, scuttling over to poke my head out as well. "Noooooo…"

My bed sits at the side of the lawn near the trees. 

I drop my head to the windowsill, and beat it gently against it a few times. 

I love my bed. It's my second place to rest besides the roof. I don't know how we're going to get it back up without having a few things to explain. And I don't want to get beaten more than I have to. 

"Something else is missing too." I mutter miserably into the wooden frame.

"What else?"

"My book."

"Pardon?"

"My journal. Diary. Thing."

"It stands to logic that if the bed didn't disappear, it was only relocated, then your 'book' should be somewhere near or in the house as well."

That was definitely Shimo coming through. So he finally decided to grace me with his presence.

"Then I'll search the house." I snarl, pushing away from the sill with anger that has been steadily rising to replace my despair. "At least it isn't totally gone."

Hee hee, I would have written more, but I didn't want to put too much into one chapter.

How on earth are Kyo and Yuki going to pull this off, with cloying Shigure and Aya, suspicious Haru, clinging Kagura and a naïve Tohru around?! Kiyahahaha.

This is a mean way to end a chapter after I've only just gotten back, but then again I've never claimed to be nice.


	11. Ten

Merry Christmas an' stuff. 

Once again with the confusion. Honestly you guys, I have no idea about anything any more. Well, at least I have a new chapter here. Not much happens, but I'm trying to work up to it, and personally, I think more than three pages is more than enough for a chapter. But believe me, I'm working up to stuff. Yup. 

I smell spicy soup wafting up from the kitchen as I draw near the staircase. The stew doesn't smell too bad, so that probably means that Kagura has Tohru's supervision for this task. Thank all things holy. I don't think anyone wants a repeat of the washing machine incident. 

To be methodical about it, I decide to check the main rooms first, then go on to the other rooms, like bedrooms etc. Yuki stops me as I reach the bottom of the stairs with a hand on my shoulder, then walks into the living room first. 

"Yuki! Come sit with us!" Ayame calls.

It dawns on me slowly. He's creating a distraction. What bravery.

"So, I hear from Shigure that something… interesting is happening in your life? A new relationship with a certain cousin or ours?"

There is an uncomfortable seeming silence. 

"Ah, look at how he's blushing! The little minx!"

I poke my head in through the door and stare helplessly at the scene beyond. Shigure and Ayame are sitting on the couch in front of me facing the television on the wall opposite, with their backs to me. Yuki is sitting on a chair on an angle to face them but still be able to see the television, looking distinctly uncomfortable to my trained eye, and also like he's on trial. He clears his throat and swallows thickly, trying to look calm under his older brother and cousins barrage of questions. 

I'm wound up tight, all my senses straining to make sure that there is no one nearby who might see me or hear me. While I'm on edge, so are my elementals. Fauna insists that I just knock the two of them out so I can search unimpaired, and Flora thinks that if I just stand still and wait it out, eventually an opportunity will present itself. Fog grudgingly suggests that it could fill the house and place all the other residents in a sleeping status, but that sounds both dangerous, and more trouble than it's worth. I don't want to have to contend with mist as well as a disappearing book. 

Blossom's just mentally jumping up and down, while Bright and Shade are flitting around my mind. I choose to ignore them all, which is a very hard thing to do. It briefly concerns me to wonder just how many Elementals there are. I don't know how many more different beings in one body it takes before I start acting as insane as I should be. 

I creep behind the couch and over to the window, passing Ayame's long white hair over the back, swaying gently as it's owner moved his head, mentioning something about 'tips'. 

I really don't want to know.

My eyes scan the table near the window, skipping over the phone book, telephone and notepad. Nothing. I quickly look the coffee table over. Magazine, ashtray, coffee mug, coffee mug, notebook… aha!

Typical. It's right in front of two of the people I most want to avoid. I slink back around the couch and stand where I can be sure I'm in Yuki's line of vision, directly between both Ayame and Shigure. His eyes widen slightly, and I mouth the word 'book' and point at the table. 

He widens his eyes slightly, brows coming down minutely, in a look that says 'can this wait? I'm busy.'.

Is it possible he's taking their 'advice' to heart? I don't want to know what he intends to do with it. 

I furrow my brow, and point savagely at the table. 'book!' I mime again.

With a slight drooping of his shoulders, Yuki sighs. 

"Hmm," he begins, leaning forward and extending a casual hand towards my journal with a feigned look of casual interest, "What's this doing here? I thought this belonged to the baka neko. He's always losing things. I suppose I should give this back to the baka."

He comes up of his seat, and slides his fingers closer to the book. His long fingers close around it, and almost like it's been coated with soap, the book shoots from his hands, flies like it's jet-propelled between Shigure and Ayame's head, clips the top of my head, and keeps going.

"Unugh…"

Ayame turned in his seat, and peeked his head over the back of the couch to stare questioningly down at me, sprawled across the carpet. "Kyo-kun, what are you doing down there?"

"Uughh…" One of my hands comes to my forehead, and massages the bump already forming, just below my hairline.

Ayame gasps. "Have you been spying on us? You could have just asked to join us, I'm sure my darling brother wouldn't have minded," 

"I think I'm concussed…"

 "Nonsense." Ayame tells me, hauling me to my feet by one arm, making the room spin alarmingly. "Now come and join us, Yuki was just going to tell us how… you two started." The tone in his voice has me stumbling out of the room before he can draw in his next breath.

I yell something incoherent at the three of them, and reel up the stairs and into my room.

It's only then that I realise that I don't have a bed to collapse and sigh upon.  "Goddamnit!"

I take a deep breath in through my nose, hold it for a few counts, then exhale through my mouth. My father taught me mediative breathing to try and get me to control my temper. Sometimes it works, but I don't usually remember to do it. When I get really annoyed, usually after a fight with Yuki, I usually am too busy running like a madman into the forest to try it.

Okay. If I can't just feel sorry for myself in my bed, and there's obviously some bastardly Elemental playing with me and my book, so the best thing to do is approach the situation calmly. Muttering bleakly to myself, I shuffle over to my wardrobe, open it, and take one of my spare blankets down from the top. I wrap it around myself, then shuffle back down stair's ignoring the weird look that Haru shoots me. I go back past the prattling two-some and the intently listening Yuki, who also shoots me a strange look, then into the kitchen. 

"Kyo! What are you doing out of bed?!"

"Um… I thought it would be easier for me to come down and join you, instead of you having to come all the way up the stairs."

That and I don't have a bed to wait in anymore. 

"No, back to bed!"

What I am about to try is risky, but I'm desperate. "Oh, but, I, ah… would much rather prefer to watch a domestic goddess in action than sit in my stuffy room."

Lies, all of it. The day she's a domestic goddess, is the day I compliment Momiji's dress-sense. And I happen to like my room. 

Compliments can go one of two ways, either it'll backfire and leave Kagura instantly suspicious, or she'll take it to heart and be flattered beyond words. There is no in the middle in this matter. 

Kagura appears quite flustered. Flushing slightly, she self-consciously tucks a strand of hair behind one of her ears. "Well, in that case…" she replied, quite flustered.

Oh yeah. I'm good.

I take the seat that she pulls out for me, then exchange significant looks with Tohru, who looks quite confused. 

In a few minutes of mindless prattling, she had finished her soup, and pours some into a bowl with a flourish. She sets it down in front of me, then hands me a spoon.

"Kyo-kun, what's wrong with your mouth?!"

"Shut up! Go Away!"

"Let me help!"

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Go away!"

I put my mouth to the tap once more, ignoring Kagura pounding on the locked door into the bathroom. 

"Please let me help, Kyo-kun!"

"Alright then, go get Yuki!"

"Yuki?! Why him?!"

I pause, a swallow the water in my mouth through a burning throat. "Because, you said you wanted to help!"

There is silence, then feet scuff away from the door. 

I am drying my feet when someone knocks. "Kyo? Are you going to let us in?"

I flick the lock. "It's open."

Yuki opens the door, glances briefly in before committing himself to stepping forward. Kagura hovers, and eventually steps in as well, a hand hovering neap her lips like she's uncomfortable. Entered some sort of forbidden zone or something.

"What's the problem?" Yuki asks me, shutting the door to a crack behind us.

"Well, for one thing, too much wasabi," I start, throwing an accusing glare at Kagura, who looks completely oblivious, "and I was also wondering if you saw where it went."

"Where what went."

I give him a deep look. "It."

"Ah."

"Hn."

"Yes."

Let's just say that neither of us are particularly comfortable discussing 'private matters' with another person around. I give my neck one last pat with my towel, before slinging it over the rack to dry. 

"So?"

Yuki shrugs his shoulders slightly. "It could have gone into Shigure's office. That was where it was headed."

I frown with frustration. "That god-accursed thing could be anywhere right now."

"What are you two talking about?" Kagura demands, exasperated.

"Nothing. Guy's stuff. You wouldn't understand."

Kagura lunges forward, and I find myself in a headlock. "What was that?"

"Ow! Nothing!"

She tightens her grip. "Are you sure don't have anything you'd care to repeat?!"

"'Course not!"

"That's good to hear!"

She places me back into a stand position, and straightens her t-shirt while I rub my poor abused neck. Yuki just looks dignifiedly amused. Damn him.

I draw in a deep breath, aggravating my poor mouth a bit. "Right then. I'll check Shigure's office."

Something dawns on me. Shigure's office. 

Oh shit.

Well, that's that for this chapter. Now to go eat some Toblerone. 


	12. Eleven

I'm back! 

Okay, this is very important so people don't start getting pissy at me. I'm leaving for Taiwan in 6 days time, and from there I'm going on to Japan for a month, so I don't know when anything new is gonna happen for this.

Don't kill me an' stuff.

"I think I'll have to call this one bastard."

"What? How does that coincide with this Elemental's traits?"

"Seems fairly obvious to me. It's being an absolute bastard. It's deliberately going out of its way to piss me off. Therefore, it's a bastard."

Yuki sighs reproachfully at me without looking up from the stack of folders he's going through.

"Is it really so important that you get it back?"

"See, I can't just leave it alone. That would mean that it's won. I don't want this thing to win anything but a one-way trip to hell."

"Aggressive, are we?"

I growl in response, resisting the urge to peg the pen that I've just picked up at Yuki's head. 

Yuki sighs once more.

Diagrams. The last thing I needed to see while looking through what looks like a nymphomaniac's room. Possibly the worst thing about this situation, is the fact that he left the computer running, and a word document open which displays what looks like his new book. I made the mistake of giving it a curious glance when I first started searching his desk. This man has more unrelated clag than anyone else I've ever met. No wonder his room his so suspiciously clean. All his shit is in here. 

"Found anything?" I ask, breaking the silence that has settled over the room.

"I'd tell you if I had." Yuki assures me quietly, still flicking through a huge pile of files. 

We continue again in silence. 

"I've got it!" I cry, triumphant as I lift a pile of random piece of paper up from across the keyboard. My book is wedged underneath. I move a hand towards it, and it shifts slightly away from me, like a cautious animal. "Oh no you don't," I yell at it, scuttling round to the end of the table it's inching towards and holding out my hands ready to catch it, "You're mine now!"

 Seconds before it moved, I realised what a stupid position I'd gotten myself into. But it was too late. The book shoots across the table, off the edge, and into my crotch, which is perfectly level with the height of the table. 

With a strangled gasp, I keel over sideway and curl into a little ball. Yuki swoops into the scene, picking up the now docile book (probably too busy laughing at me to care, the little bastard), then pulling me into his lap.

"I'm… going… to… STRANGLE IT!!" I curse, trying to reach the book so I can thrash the shit out of it without moving.

Yuki thwarts me at every turn, calmly keeping the book out of my flailing reach while running a comforting hand up and down my back.

"Shift!"  I snarl at it, and milky strands of magic raise out if it, and plunge into my chest, shooting me out of my agony position. Yuki ends up sprawled over me, his hand still trapped behind me back, face perilously close to mine, with a knee between my legs.

"Oh my god!" A familiar voice screams.

My eyes widen as Kagura, Ayame, Shigure and Haru all tumble into the room.

Ayame squeals and claps his hands like it's some sort of amusing play, while Haru has a look part-way between distaste and amusement on his face. Shigure just smiles.

We haven't moved yet. "It- it's not what you think!"

Haru cracks up, and I shove Yuki off me so hard he ends up sprawled on his ass. 

"A floor-show!" Ayame yells, then collapses laughing onto Haru's shoulder. 

Oh, the jokes just keep coming.

Kagura, who's been going progressively from white, to red, and now to a florid shade of purple, stomps over to up, boots Yuki solidly in the groin, then shoves her heel into my solar plexus. We both curl back into balls, and Kagura stomps out of the room.

Ayame seems to have composed himself apart from occasional sniggers, and Haru's already walked out, still laughing, after Kagura. 

"I think we should leave them to it." Shigure tells his cousin lightly, then in more serious tones, "I'll ask you two why you were in here in the first place later."

*~*~*~*

26.10.03 6.14 PM

It took about five minutes for Yuki and it to rouse ourselves enough to limp, an arm over each other's shoulder up to our respective rooms.

Yuki waved me a pitiful goodbye at his door before firmly closing it, and I kept going for a few paces with my book tucked firmly under one arm. The Elementals were resettling inside me as I sat back down at my desk and looks mournfully at the place where my bed should be. I miss it now even more than ever, because all I want to do is curl up and die in a corner. I'm aching almost everywhere, and feeling mentally weary. It always takes it out of me to accept a new Elemental, and today is no different. I feel almost stretched at the seams. There are so many now that my own body feels somewhat cramped. 

I just want to snuggle into a warm bed.

*~*~*~*

I close the book and leave it in the middle of the desk where it will reassuringly just sit there.

I lean back with a sigh and rub my closed eyes. Before I fully realise what's happening, my feet are already carrying me out of my room and turning me towards Yuki's. I knock morosely on his door then invite myself in. Yuki lifts his head blearily off his pillow as I enter then lets it sink back down again. I shut the door behind me, then shuffle over to his bed and curl up into a ball next to him. I leave Yuki the entire pillow, leaning my forehead against his shoulder. Yuk shifts slightly to fit himself more comfortably to me, with his head buried in my hair and arms around my waist. 

"Today I've taken a worse beating than I have this whole bloody month."

"Well, that wasn't hard," Yuki tells me, absently kissing my hair.

I snuggle closer to him, preserving some of the body heat between us. "Yes, but it hurt."

Yuki's back shakes with silent laughter, and I frown into his shoulder. "Baka," He tells me fondly. 

Comfortable silence stretches out between us.

"You know that eventually someone's going to notice that your beds outside, we should probably go fetch it."

"… Can't be bothered."

"Baka neko."

"Urusai, nezumi!" I growl, kicking Yuki half-heartedly in the shin. 

"Come on," Yuki says resignedly, rolling over me so he can get up, "We should go get your bed."

"Why? Am I not welcome in yours?" I ask jokingly, raising an eyebrow.

Yuki raises an eyebrow at me with an unidentifiable look, then walks over to his wardrobe and pulls out a jacket. "It's getting cold. You should grab a jacket too."

"Yes, mother." I retort, walking back into my room to retrieve my own jacket.

*~*~*~*

27.10.03 11.53 AM

Yuki and I finally managed to get my bed back in through the window with a little guidance from Shimo, who hovered near my window and told me when my bed would fit back through, and, of course, from Shift. If it got me into the mess, there was no way in hell it wasn't gonna help me get out of it.

My sheets were fairly sodden, so I replaced those. Thankfully enough, the mattress was only wet on one side, so I turned that over and ignored it. Mildew is my friend. I've only just woken up. The lump on my head is down but bruising, and the middle of my chest is mottled green, brown, yellow and purple. I refuse to look at my other injury sight. Yuki's obviously feeling rather bruised as well from the very careful way he's been walking this morning. If I didn't know that I was moving in a remarkably similar way, I'd find it funny. It feels good to have a place to write again.

Haru leaves today.

*~*~*~*

There. That's another chapter done.

I don't know when I'm next going to be able to post, what with the whole skipping country thing and stuff.

Don't kill me if it takes a little over a month.


	13. Twelve

Aargh! Gomen nasai! *bows* Gomen nasai! *bows* I know I said start of Feb, and this is more like *end* of Feb, but it's been hard to get back into the writing mood again. It's not like getting back on a bike, cuz I'm in a different mind set now that I'm back, and back into the dull routine. Argh. This chapter also probably bites the big one, but I've re-written it several times, and given the fact that the thing on my mind right now is when I'll get back to playing NWN (NeverWinter Nights – best game ever, play it). But I'm not giving up, not this century. Once again, gomen nasai na no da!

"Do you think they respect me?"

Shimo blinks slowly, uncomprehendingly at me with his amber eyes. "You mean the Elementals?"

"No, our next-door neighbours, of course I meant the Elementals." I snap in one breath.

"Angry, are we?"

I don't know if Yuki's starting to sounds like Shimo or if it's the other way around, but either way it's kind of creepy.

They're starting to look more alike as well. Their eyes match perfectly apart from colouring, and they have the exact same blasé expressions.

There are some differences between them in personality, like Yuki's sense of humour is better, but Shimo knows me inside and out. The only thing that annoys me is that Yuki's getting taller, and his shoulders are getting wider, a closer match to Shimo's physique. I think I've stopped growing (goddamnit), as Yuki, who used to be about a centimetre taller than me is now a couple of inches taller. 

He hasn't mentioned it, but the way he smirks is just too much of a give-away to the fact that he's noticed this. 

"I'm not angry. You're just stating the obvious. That annoys me."

"We know. I was just clarifying things. Sometimes, you're a bit too vague."

"I'm vague? At least I don't think smiling mysteriously is an answer to a question,"

"At least I smile at all."

Oooh, burn.

"That doesn't stop you from being aggravating."

K'so shimo. K'so nezumi.

He's become just as snarky as Yuki as well.

Shimo stares at me blandly until I talk again.

"Look, we're getting off topic. Do you think that my Elementals respect me?"

"Do you respect them?"

I resist the urge to growl, but allow myself a frown.

"Do you think they'll listen to me?"

"Depends what you ask them. What do you wish to ask of them?"

I have to phrase this question well. Put it in the best possible light. So I wont get chewed out by the same person twice. Well, not as much. "I was wondering if I could trust a few of the… least dangerous Elementals to… um run around the forest alone for a while? You know, give me some down-time?"

"Kyo, would you be so kind as to tell me you're kidding now?"

"Well, you see the thing is…"

"Oh dear, you aren't kidding, are you?"

"Well, it's a little weird sharing my body with… too damn many other creatures! It's not like they just sit there, they move, and they talk to each other… and to me…."

Shimo's face is still impassive.

"Okay, you know how you have Yuki in there, and he usually aware?"

"If I allow him to be, he is aware."

My mind shudders away from that thought, and then gathers up the things that I want to hear, 'he is aware.'

"Well, imagine having twelve Yuki's in your head at all times. All doing whatever the hell they feel like at all hours of the day. I point at my nose. "These things don't sleep, Shimo. They're just there, all the time. I feel stretched at the edges. I just want some downtime."

"… Which do you intend to temporarily free?"

I scratch at the beads around my wrist, waiting for Haru to just leave. Its not like I hate him that much, and really really want him to leave, its more that he's taking his damn time about it. He keeps talking to Shigure and Tohru while Yuki and I stand in the background looking bored. I bet that any second now, Yuki will leave to finish the extra-assignment he has due in a week's time. Seriously. There's prepared, then there's Yuki. Super-organised boy. That and he's surprisingly anti-social at times. Well, quite a lot, unless one of the family or Tohru manage to drag him out and force fun down his throat. We try… well, they try, but sometimes (I get the same treatment, but that's besides the point) it just seems like a lost cause.

With one last nod, Haru saunters out the front door, his duffel bag slung casually over one shoulder. He sets off down the path, and I resign myself to spending half the day shadowing him to make sure the baka doesn't get lost. Don't ever say that I don't care. I just have strange ways of showing it.

Yuki's footsteps retreat upstairs as I head to the shoe rack and retrieve my pair of sturdy boots. Shigure tells Tohru he has something to 'show' her (mental note: stomp on his head), and they disappear the other way.

I pull on my boots as my cousin disappears out of sight, then trudge outside into the crisp afternoon air. I stuff my hands into my pockets, and sigh, watching my breath drift around me as a milky mist, before resignedly crossing into the forest. I dodge past a bush, and sigh again. The cool air is quite refreshing, waking me up entirely for the first time today as I, with a strange sense of resigned determination, begin to trail the cow as he fumbles his way home. 

Hatsuharu manages the driveway (I'd certainly hope so, it's a fucking straight road), then consults his map, before resolutely turning and walking in the opposite direction. Oh dear. This looks to be along day.

By around three, he's about a third of the way there, and I approximate by the time he actually reaches the main complex, it should be just after dark. I'll be back home myself around quarter to nine. Great. Too late for dinner, to early to simply go to bed. 

As my current, self-imposed job is a bit of a no-brainer, I start compiling a list of possible things to do with my time. What I come up with: compiling a list of things to do with my time. 

My imagination really needs a pep-talk. 

I end up thinking again about Yuki. He says normal people like touching when they kiss; I know this also, I haven't spent the entirety of puberty sitting under a rock on mars with my fingers in my ears humming songs from The Sound of Music. Give me some credit. 

I just have something against people touching me like that. I've been brought up with my family telling me 'Don't touch people! You'll turn into the cat, they'll scream and think you're a freak, then Akito will find out, and you slide slowly into a pit of horror and doom, from which there IS NO RETURN.'

Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that was generally what was implied, so I just find it a little hard to bypass my programming. I'll have to work on that. I mean, I consciously know that Yuki is a male, so there will be no transforming involved unless I happen to freak out, but subconsciously, my brain thinks that a person is a person, and therefore all should be avoided.

I sigh. There's not much time left in my holidays, and I haven't done any of the work that has been assigned. I'll need to get around to that. For the second time in as many weeks, I spot a familiar head in the crowd, and this one is not decorated with white-and-black fuzz.

The familiar face smiles, and falls into step next to me.

"Hello, Kyo-san,"

One note for the start of the chapter, when pointing at oneself, Japanese people don't point at their chests, they point at their noses. Don't ask my why, I didn't make up the culture. It just occurred to me as I re-read this that it might sound a little strange if I didn't explain it.

*Sigh* I'm so predictable. Try and guess who came in at the end of this chapter.

I once again apologise for the late-ness and shitty-ness of this latest chapter.

I'll get another one out soon. I feel the creative vibes returning. Reviews would help, though *poke poke* ^-^


	14. Thirteen

Yaay, yet another chapter. I very happy, and thankful of you guys, I'm actually close to the 100 review mark! Well, sorta. I'd love to get 100 or more, that would make me so proud. Not that that's a hint or anything, just keep reviewing as you have, and I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

"Eriol," I blink in surprise. "What are you doing here- I mean," Stupid, stupid cat! "What brings you here?"

Something about that boy makes me try to act polite. 

Eriol smiles. "I'm just shopping. How about you?"

I nod my head towards my fumbling cousin. 

Eriol raises one of his thin black brows. "Your hobby again?"

Ah, reference to previous conversation.  I almost forgot that I had said seeing Haru's face when he came back in the rain was something I looked forward to. A snort escapes me. "His sense of direction's shot. I'm makin' sure he gets back to the main house in one piece, and preferably before school starts again."

"Ah."

"Hm."

"So how did you get stuck with this particular job?"

"Luck? Nah, I volunteered. If he ends up anywhere near Osaka, I'm supposed to firmly grab him by the nose and drag him in the right direction. It's a precaution."

"I see."

"Hm."

"You don't think it's would be awfully imposing of me if I asked to accompany you, would it?"

I blink with surprise again. "'Course not- I mean, that would be great,"

Eriol smiles again.

What on earth am I doing? 

I stare up at the imposing masterpiece of European architecture, and wonder what I've gotten myself into, accepting Eriol's offer of 'late supper'. The chirping of a few crickets is about the only sound there is. The air is still and cool, and the lack of movement anywhere makes the world, the very air seems frozen solid. A crystalline world, and it hasn't even started properly snowing yet.

"Master! I know you're home! Stop standing around outside and come in before you catch your death!"

Eriol throws me a wry smile as I instinctively wince. I think it's just a natural male reaction to wince whenever we hear a female yelling at us, no matter what it's about. I dunno, maybe it was just growing up around Kagura that did it. 

"That's my housekeeper Nakuru."

Great. Another shrill female. Can't have too many of those.

Even more weary than I already was, I find myself being reluctantly herded up the path through an impeccable front yard to the white-washed front door of my acquaintance's 'humble abode'. I'm cautious to call him a friend. Something about that boy makes me a little suspicious. He puts me on edge with just a smile. I can handle smiles, but something about Eriol doesn't seem right. He always seems to be at the right place at the right time, with no explanation given, and for some unknown reason, the thoughts 'Is he stalking me?' never seem to occur until after he's disappeared again. Bad vibes slide off him like water on a duck, he just seems impervious to everything. He never looses his cool. I don't trust him, I don't want to be here.

But there's nothing I can do about it without seeming rude. And I still, no matter how creepy he is, don't want to do that. It's almost like the complex I have around my father. I want to make a good impression.

Just as my mind gropes at this concept, the front door bursts open. "Master!" She stops and throws me a smile. "Ah! A guest! Master, you should have warned me!"

Nakuru's dark brown hair is close to her knees, with an impeccably cut fringe that frames her oval face. Two pieces of hair are swept up into little buns, with their ends trailing down in thin plaits. She looks in her early twenties, and has a disapproving look on her face. The look melts into a smile, and she skips out onto the veranda, and leaps at me. With reflexes that have been perfected over my years at school (and being called 'soooo cute!' to quote a few stupid girls), I side step her attack, and brace myself to run like-a-mad-thing. 

Nakuru screeches to a halt perilously close to stairs, then turns to me with a pout. "You're good."

Eriol, looking amused, but like he's trying to ignore us both, hustles us inside. 

Dinner passes without incident, with a little casual chatter that still doesn't seem to calm me. The Elementals are flitting around inside me, causing general mayhem, and what feels like WWIII. It seems I'm not the only one who's ready to break for the door.

Eriol and I take seats in his 'study', which is more like a library, next to a roaring fire, with cups of tea.

"That was quite a reaction you had to Nakuru's affection before,"

"Yeah, well, I don't like people touching me."

"Why is that?"

"I like my personal space." I state, giving Eriol an unfriendly stare until he looks away, the flames in the fireplace reflecting off his glasses.

We sit in silence, myself sulking, and Eriol contemplating something only he can see. 

"… I think I should head home before Tohru starts to get too worried." I glance at the grandfather clock in the corner. "It's already past ten."

Eriol nods and leads me to the door.

"It's been a pleasure having you,"

"Thankyou for feeding me,"

I slip out the door into the night, and instantly wrap my arms around myself. It's gotten a lot colder. 

"Ah, you're back." Yuki's voice floats over to me as I lie on the couch, an arm flung over my face. "You know, there are beds for that,"

I slide my arm down my face to that I can actually see the source of his voice, and give my cousin the best glare I can muster. "Just get your ass over here." 

Peeling my back off the couch, I sit up enough to conceivably put my arms around Yuki's neck, then head in the crook of his neck.

"Bad day, I take it?"

"Average day, suckful dinner companions." I sigh, partially weary and partially because Yuki's rubbing my back. "Eriol's wiggy 'house keeper' kept tryin' a glomp me, and Eriol's creepy, and asks questions."

"Eriol? When did he get involved?"

I somehow manage to shrug. "Met him in town, an' he tagged along."

"Like a faithful fan-club member?"

I draw my head back and butt him in the chin, making Yuki flinch. "No, k'so nezumi, like a friend that I met on the street,"

Yuki leans forward, pressing me back against the couch, his arms slipping away from my waist, one bracing his hovering over the couch, and the other resting lightly on my chest. 

He kisses my jaw line, just south of my ear, then sits back slightly to watch me squirm, like, so predictably, I am. "Silly kitten, I've seen the looks he gives you in class," his lips slide further down my jaw, "He wants you."

Spluttering, I shove Yuki off me and the edge of the couch he had managed to take over, making him land on his ass in a rather undignified way. "Bastard! Don't give me that martyred expression, you horny freak! No one's 'getting me' until I damn well say so! That includes you, and the weirdo foreigner! Honestly."

I stand up and step over Yuki's sprawled form, heading for the stairs. 

The whole fucking world is mad.

*~*~*~*

28.10.03 6.59 AM

Yuki 'apologised' profusely to me before I reached my room (not that I really minded or anything, just don't tell him that), and I went to bed a satisfied man. I still want to know what the hell he's thinking. Eriol ' wants me' yeah, right. He treats me like he does everyone else, with impeccable manners, and no hint of emotion. Yuki is, as I've already mentioned, a horny freak. And a jealous one at that.

I mean, seriously, what a shitty time to proposition me. a) I was tired, b) It was in the living room, where anyone might just walk in, c) the Elementals were still pitching a battle in my head, and most of all, d) Shimo might be watching. Yeesh. That's an automatic turn-off right there. I mean, he uses the same eyes as my boyfriend, he could be watching at any time. Don't know what that strange mind of his might be thinking. God, it would be like getting it on in front of Tohru. Just not done.

Just…. Yeesh.

I've been thinking. Yes, it did hurt. 

Do people expect me to have any sort of… detail in this fic? Cuz… I don't think I got the balls to write anything graphic. Especially not in 1st person. That's just wiggy. Hee hee, jealous Yuki. I just thought I'd like to make parallels between Yuki & Kyo and Li & Sakura for old time's sake. I like things like that. Plus jealous Yuki means attentive Yuki… *-* Eh heh… Okay, going now.

Please review!


	15. Fourteen

I have returned, and let me just say now, that I am very happy. Totemo ureshii. Mechya ureshii. Okay, so, this one is significantly longer than my usual chapter, but inspiration hit me like a ton of bricks. Whee. 

"Shimo?"

The flame-haired guardian looks up from his contemplation of my encyclopaedia. "Yes?"

I have finally decided to broach the subject of what Shimo does. "What precisely can and can't you do?"

"Well," the corners of his mouth upturn slightly, "I can't seem to make you listen to me,"

"Ha. Ha ha ha ha. I'm pissing myself on the inside, really."

Shimo sighs. "As far as I can tell, I have one major inhibition."

"Yeah? And what's that?"

Shimo lifts a hand and stares at it as his form morphs back into that of my cousin. "My dependence on this body."

"Oh please, not that old spiel again. I mean, maybe you're supposed to be in other people; maybe that's just the way you are…"

"Kyo, if I'm supposed to 'be in someone' why aren't I in you then?"

"Hey, don't ask me, you're the one who moved out,"

"So it's my fault now is it?" Shimo crossed his arms. "Some responsible master YOU are,"

Shimo's eyes slid back in his head, and then open again. Yuki takes a few moments to readjust before fixing a serious gaze on me. "You stepped in it this time."

"Whadda ya mean I 'stepped in it?' He started it, speaking of that, put Shimo back on! I'm not done with him!"

"Shimo doesn't want to talk to you."

"What are you, his receptionist? We need to get this sorted out!"

"Shimo says he's on strike."

"What?! How can he do that? Can he do that?"

Yuki raised his hands in defence. "I have no comment."

"Hey! You're supposed to back me up on this!"

"You don't have to live with him. I have no comment."

"You have to live with ME too, and trust me, I wont make it pleasant!" I poke out my tongue.

"I'm not sure which of you two is more childish." Yuki sighs. "Shimo wants you to apologise."

"For what? Existing?"

"It's a start,"

"URRRGH."

Yuki sighs and rolls his eyes heavenwards, accidentally answering something Shimo says out loud. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

A corner of my mouth twitches. "Hah! So you're taking crap from both sides, huuh? Well, that's one thing we agree on!"

"I don't need this… Tempt me and I'll leave the room. Then we'll see how much arguing either of you get done."

"Don't make me turn this car around!" I quip. "Fine then, I'm terribly sorry that I was born, thereby bringing you with me into this shitty existence."

Yuki bows his head. "Thank you." He makes to stand up. "Well, if you two have quite finished your verbal catfight, I'm leaving."

And he does just that.

Still in a huff over my latest feud with my smart-ass guardian and his accomplice, I stomp down the stairs and outside. Then straight back in. It's fucking cold. I grab a coat off the rack, and stuff some gloves on before trying again. Standing on the edge of the deck, I take a deep breath in, and carefully pull Glow, Blossom, Reflection, Flora and Fauna out of the tangle of different entities inside me. Slowly and carefully, I pull them out of my frame and into the open air in front of me, to form milky balls of energy. I pause to remark on the differing colours, all very subtle, when a voice interrupts me.

"Kyo-kun, what are you doing?"

The Elementals slam simultaneously back into my body in response, and I collapse to me knees. "FUCK me…"

Tohru gasps, and runs over to cradle me to her, rendering me instantly in cat form, and covered in piles of heavy down jacket and clothing.  "GOMEN NASAI! Daijoubu ka?"

I flick a glove off my paw as Tohru cradles me to her chest. "Yes. Fine. Wonderful. Peachy." Dying slowly.

"Do you want me to call anyone?"

I wince as I slowly wriggle me way out of her grasp, and land lightly on my four paws. "Well, I had wanted to go for a walk, but I've decided it's a little too cold… I think I'll go back to my room now." My entire body aching, I take my pants and shirt in my mouth and slowly drag them back into the house.

"Okay, plan two."

I open my window wide and take a deep breath in of the cool winter air. I'll just let them out the window and hope to god that they'll all be good and head to the forest. I've re-dressed in my pants, but got bored half-way through and just shrugged on a shower robe. It's multi purpose, and comfortable. Plus, I'm feeling lazy and sorry for myself.

I mentally delve into myself again.

"Kyo?" My door slides open, and I whirl around in a flash of blue and white stripes to snarl at Yuki. 

"Goddamnit! Why can't you people just leave me alone?!"

Yuki seems unimpressed. "Phone." He says tonelessly, holding up our cordless.

"Thankyou," I grate out, snatching the phone and slamming my door in Yuki's face. It bounces back, and I get stuck staring at exactly the same expression again. "Go away now,"

This time when I slam it, I hold it securely shut.

"Yes?"

"Did I call at a bad time?" Eriol sounds amused.

"No, it's okay. It doesn't matter."

Nevermind the fact that my chest feels like it's going to explode. 

"Are you sure? I can hang up if you want,"

"No, it's fine." I sit down at my desk and start to slowly sift through the Elementals inside me. "Why did you call?"

How did you get my number? I could swear that it wasn't listed.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright. You were rather abrupt when you left last night,"

I scratch my nose, and slowly draw out Glow. "Yeah, sorry about that. I was just in a strange mood."

"Well, I just hope I didn't offend… Kyo?"

"Uh huh?" I vaguely respond, paying more attention to the glowing ball of light in my hand. 

"What are you doing?"

I snap back to reality, and shoo Glow on its way. "Why do you ask?"

He sounded almost concerned. Or disapproving. Like a parent who's just found their child with a hand in the cookie jar. "Well, you just sounded a little vague there for a moment. So, what are you up to?" He asks, emphasising 'are' to make it sound like he is more trying to muse it out for himself then ask me.

"Oh, you know, as little as possible. I'm bumming about half-dressed and staying in my room mostly. Can't see myself moving in the foreseeable future."

"Yes, I must admit that I myself wasn't fully dressed until around nine," Ooh, the horror. "It must just be one of those lazy days. Not that I'm complaining of course, it's a rare occasion when I get to relax these days."

"Yeah, and there's school looming on the horizon," I add, before letting the twin balls Flora and Fauna out my gaping window and into the world.

"You're doing it again,"

"Eh? Zoning out?"

Okay, this is getting weird. I didn't even get caught up in the last two. He must be a damn good listener.

"You could call it that," He sounds amused again. I wish someone would let me in on the joke. 

As Eriol starts to speak again, another voice coughs, and I instantly spring into action. "SHIGURE STOP LISTENING IN YOU FREAK!"

There's a moment of silence from both ends, then the phone clicks down. Now that was strange. It's not a rare occurrence for Shigure to do something strange and obnoxious like that, but usually when he's found out (even though he rarely is, he's the master of observation), Shigure would start teasing me. Something along the lines of 'Ooh, does the poor little Kyo-kun not want me listening to his chat with his boyfriend?!' at which point I would have to hang up on both of them, then beat him to within an inch of his life. This was not a Shigure prank-call. I am instantly suspicious.

"Eh-heh, please excuse my household for being filled with those suffering from dementia."

"It's quite alright," Eriol laughs while I release Reflection, and let it wing around my head a few times before flitting out the window. He sounds a little confused. "Isn't Shigure-san your guardian?"

"No," I reply, not really thinking about it, "That's Shimo." I blink and sit forward. "Shit! You mean legal guardian? Yeah, that's Shigure. Forget I said that."

"Shimo? Who's Shimo?"

Damnit, he's not gonna let this one go.

What I really feel like doing at this point is pretending that I need to leave for a… hair appointment, and hang up, but that's too cliché and about as subtle as a brick-to-the-head. I opt for skimming over the subject.

"Shimo's a friend. He's also the most aggravating person on the planet. He makes Shigure seem like a saint. But, we've known each other for a while, so…"

"Why did you say he's you guardian?"

"Well…" I scratch my head. "That's his self-adopted role. He seems to think that without him, I'll end up dead or insane before I'm twenty, which is probably accurate."

"So he's older than you are?"

He seems to think he is. In reality, he's only a few weeks old. Don't tell him I said that. "Uh… yeah… Listen, I gotta go now, I'll see you around?"

"Maybe," There's a lot of promise hidden in that one word.

I press the call end button, and gather my energy to go and give my junior spy a piece of my mind.

"Yuki?" I poke my head into his room, a smile plastered across my face. I saunter over to where he sits at his desk, forcefully pull out his chair, then sit on his lap, one hand twiddling with his hair, and the other around his neck. "I would have thought you'd know that," my hand tightens in his hair, and my voice drops down an octave, "eavesdropping is rude."

One of Yuki's hands snakes up and tries to dislodge me from my death-grip on his precious grey locks. 

"I didn't realise…"

"Honey, you handed me the phone. Please give me more credit than that,"

"Well, you know that I…"

"Don't like him, don't trust him." I intone before letting go of his hair, and leaning back, crossing my arms to sternly glare at him.. "Trust me instead. Trust my fucking intelligence, I'm not going to accidentally start anything."

"I trust your intelligence, but I don't trust your powers of observation."

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"How'd ya figure that out?"

"Well, I…" I growl and whack him. "Urusai, nezumi!"

Yuki smiles. Damn him. Whenever Yuki uses sarcasm (which is very often), it's hard to tell. Some people just sound dry and bitter, but with Yuki, there is no change in tone. "Damn you, apologise for being a distrusting jerk!"

"I'm very," he kisses my collar bone, "very," he kisses the side of my neck, "sorry that I'm a jerk." He whispers finally, his lips a few millimetres from my earlobe, his breath tickling my neck.

Flushing the same colour as my hair as I realise that somehow in the course of the events I've ended up straddling his lap, I hit my cousin soundly on the top of his head. "Don't think you can seduce your way out of this, you bastard!" I kiss him soundly on the mouth, before shoving myself off him and sweeping (thanks to my robe) out of the room. 

"You're SO not forgiven!"

I'm still a little red.

I toss and turn at night. My room is hot to the point of stuffiness, but without the sheets, it's too cold. Aggravating. My mind is currently in a state where I realise that I should be asleep, but can't quite achieve it. Anything could bring me back to full awareness. Just as this occurs to me, a floorboard creaks somewhere in the house, and suddenly my mind is perfectly awake again. I sigh and roll over onto my back before opening my eyes. Then screaming.

"KIYAAA…" The scream momentarily stops to be replaced with a 'poofing' noise, then starts again "AAAAA!"

The sword that was dangling above my head pulls back slightly, then goes for my throat as I scramble out of bed as fast as my catty-legs will take me. "AHH!"

The thought 'screaming like a little girl' flashes through my head as I skitter out of my doorway and shove Yuki's open with my mind and screeching through his. "YUKI HELP MEEE!" I leap onto Yuki's awakening form, my claws out and ignoring his cry of protest, thrusting open his curtains then window before throwing myself out into the night. Cat-vision helps me see where the hell I'm going as I position myself to land, and hiss as the sword, the traditional Japanese-style katana follow suit. I'm running from the side of the house to the driveway when my missing Elementals stream back from the woods into me and I flip to my feet, human again (and butt-naked) and throw a ball of concentrated storm energy at the glimmering silver object. The sword is spun from the air and sticks, smoking and ticking like a cooling engine, it's point stuck a few inches into the ground. 

A side door clatters open, and Shigure, Tohru and Yuki all tumble out onto the deck. Tohru squeals, goes bright red, then ducks back inside.

Yuki, apparently unfazed by my nakedness, steps off the deck without any shoes (not that I can talk) and over to me, apparently unfussed about the weather. "Was that another one?"

I point at the sword. "It still is another one."

"Kyooooo-kun! Why are you naked? I saw you come out of Yuki's window…" He cuts himself off for his patented pervert-laugh. 

Yuki and I turn, and both scream "IF I WASN'T FREEZING MY ASS OFF, I'D BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF YOU!"

"Ooh, tag-team!" He starts laughing again.

Yuki and I growl.

Tohru, still dressed only in a nightgown makes a mad dash out of the house towards us, her outstretched arms and filled with bathrobe, her eyes carefully averted. She thrusts it at me, and flushing madly, turns away as I pull it on. 

"Are you hurt?"

There is concern in the voice, but I can still tell that Shimo's in control.

"I'm cold, and I don't know how we're gonna explain this one."

Shimo's eyebrows lower. "I could make him forget."

I look away, ashamed with what I am about to consent to. "Only if we need to. I don't like doing things like that to people."

"Kyo, you know that if Shigure remembers this tomorrow, then everyone will know. Akito will know. Shigure can't be trusted."

"I know that, it's just…" I reply wearily, running a hand through my hair, before something catches my attention from the corner of my vision. "Tohru! Don't touch… Oh dear."

The tip of the sword scraped back out of the frozen earth.

And there, I shall leave it, for otherwise, it would have to trail on for a few more pages, and that's a little too long. I hope you enjoyed it!****


	16. Fifteen

Whee! I have over 100 reviews! I wuv you all. I finally feel like I've gotten somewhere. And now, to finally get further with everyone standing around in the cold! Hee hee haa haa an' stuff!

You dudes rock my world.

"Erm… this is a bad thing, isn't it?" Shigure sidles off the deck and closer to where Yuki/Shimo and I stand, looking distinctly out of his league, possibly inching closer to take advantage of the meagre protection we might be. 

I barely manage to stop myself from strangling him, trying to stay focused on the glassy-eyed figure of our housekeeper. Her whole demeanour changed the instant she touched the hilt, and she stands holding the sword like she could easily use it, her blank eyes running over the blade. 

"Gee, Shigure, let's see. Tohru's holding an evil, possessed sword. I wonder?" Yuki bites back.

With a flick of one of her small, pale hands, the sword is lowered to Tohru's side, and the Sword Elemental stares me straight in the eye, then bows low and elaborately. "Master,"

I incline my head, feeling all too aware of my surroundings, ready to jump out of my skin if I hear any little noise. My nerves are straining so hard that I can feel Yuki/Shimo standing behind me, and Shigure behind them. "Blade, what is the meaning of this?"

"A challenge, my lord. I know that you are worthy, but what of the creature that claims to be your guardian? It's other form wishes to be your mate, but you are the master," Blade's eyes snap over to glare at Yuki, "and he is not worthy."

Yuki glares dangerously. "What do you want us to do?"

Yuki holds the sword the Blade has supplied for him like he fears it's about to try and bite his hand – which could very well happen, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Yuki might win.

Look at it this way, Yuki and I have been trained since we were able to walk to be able to fight; myself more than Yuki, but it still adds up to the same thing, with the mouse's natural ability to… constantly kick my ass (injustice!). We have been trained since we were tykes, and that includes weaponry; from the katana, what Yuki is currently holding, to throwing axes and beyond. More importantly, in whatever weapon we tried to use, Yuki was still always better. My sneaking suspicion is that Blade has all my skills. All my skills, and my ability level, which is, still lower than Yuki's. He should be able to beat it, because it should be like fighting myself. Please, god, let him realise this, and not get psyched out because he's fighting Tohru. 

I walk up behind my cousin and put a hand on his shoulder. "Yuki. Screw this up, and I'll never forgive you. It's just like fighting me; Blade is me. I hope you understand that this is very important for getting you accepted by the Elementals, not just this one. I don't know why or how, but these things gossip. If you lose, Blade will spread it to every other Element in a ten mile radius, who will in turn spread it to others. You'll forever be known as 'the weakling who is not worthy'."

"Why are you telling me this?" Yuki whispers back at me.

"Isn't it helping?"

"No."

"Um… some other incentive then?"

"Like what?" is Yuki's scathing reply.

"Well, then, you don't want me to promise you an hour alone with me in your room so we can practice 'touching Kyo'?"

"…That'll do."

"Good. Great. Now remember, Blade is only as good as I am. You can beat me without breaking a sweat." I finish our conversation with a kiss to the side of his neck, then a pat on the bum. "Go get him… her…. It… thing! Whatever!" I wave a dismissive hand at the both of them. "I don't care anymore!" and stalk off to join stand, with my arms crossed, beside Shigure.

Yuki hefts the three feet of steel in his right hand, passes it briefly to his left, then back again. 

Tohru's body cocks it's head to one side, and starts circling Yuki. "Shimo, are you listening?"

"What is it you want?"

"I just hope you realise that this mortal is fighting for you as well,"

Yuki's body nods. "I am aware." An uncharacteristic smirk blossoms on his face. "That's why I'm not worried."

Blade snorts. "You've spent too long with the rat, I'm afraid, it's done strange things to your psyche."

"I prefer to think of it as 'expanding my horizons'." Shimo retorts, raising his sword to block a slow strike from Blade.  

The two continue to banter, even as they start with slow stokes, sizing each other up.

"Your body's weak, Shimo, you won't last long."

"At least I'm not the one in the body of a girl,"

Oh god, he's inherited my misogynist streak. 

"He looks enough like one,"

"Ask the master. He's definitely a male."

I lower my flaming face into my hands as Shigure sniggers and punches my shoulder. "I'll kill them, I'll kill them both…"

The battle starts in earnest, and it paints such a surreal scene. Tohru fighting in her nightgown against Yuki is strange enough, and then there's the fact that my cousins' eyes are faintly glowing amber, one bright point in the night that's otherwise as dark as the inside of a cat. He's also wearing his sleeping clothes, pale blue with a boarder of sheep on the three-quarter length pants. It's ridiculous, and I know that when I look back on it, I'll laugh. If all goes well. If not, then… Oh dear.

It's all rather frustrating. I feel like some sort of damsel being fought over by a couple of knights. The Sheep knight, and the Lace Knight. Personally, I'm rooting for the sheep. He's prettier. I just wish that I could jump into the fry, kick Tohru in the head, and start yelling at Yuki/Shimo.

But that's not about to happen. When, not if we get Blade out of Tohru, I don't want her wondering why her nose is broken. But I still feel eternally weak. I think I'll sulk for a couple of days on the roof, then challenge Yuki. That usually makes me feel better.

As I muse, Blade's sword glances off Yuki's hand, and it suddenly occurs to me where this is headed. "Idiots!" I leap forward as Yuki raises his sword and start to bring it down with more force than necessary, no longer play. 

I shove my way in-between the two squabbling spirits, and the shot that was intended for Blade glances off my forehead, deflected by the fortunately solid bone that is my skull.

"Aw, fuck!" I grate out, one hand going to my bleeding scalp while I boot Yuki, who is still recovering from the shock factor, in the solar plexus. At the same time, I shove Tohru back and hear her hit the frozen ground hard behind me. "Fucking retards! Aw, fuckin' hell!"

I make a show at wiping blood out of my vision, and glare at Blade, who is still tenaciously clinging onto it's sword. "First point for house of Sohma!" I kick the sword out of her hand, then stumble forward to grab it myself. "Point, set and match, Blade, now stop it."

The spirit moves from the sword that I am gripping down into my arm like it's being severed down the middle. I bite my tongue to keep from screaming, and keep holding the sword until I know Blade is inside me properly. 

The sword stays, and enraptured, I stare at the hilt. It's covered in ivory, and carved with a scene of men with wings. A smile impulsively comes to my face. "Hey, Yuki, I think this is for you."

Yuki and Shigure blink up at me from where they kneel next to Tohru. 

"Ummm, Kyo-kun," Shigure helpfully points out, "Your face is still bleeding…"

I just needed to put that last line in. It just fit. Hmm… I wonder what they'll do about Shigure, ne? 


	17. Sixteen

Whee! Well, I got a few people begging me to collect my courage and write the 'touching Kyo' session. I have. I've gathered my wits about me, wrote with my head down and ears flaming, on my new/old laptop in my room. It's a complete and utter piece of crap, makes strange noises like a cow in labour and it about the size of a good encyclopaedia, but really, I only want it to be a glorified typewriter, so it's okay. Word works, so it's all good. Then I let my sister read through it. well eventually stopped trying to get my sister to not read it, and sat there fidgeting with, once again, flaming ears. And it doesn't even get too far. Geez… I still need to bring up the rating…

_*~*~*~*_

_1.11.03 6.45 AM_

_Day three of sulking on the roof. I have a big-ass jacket on, and Tohru occasionally takes pity on me and gets me some food. I have all I need. Except peace of mind. After Hatori saw to our injuries, Yuki, a deep cut on his hand, Me, a thin but painful and bleed-y cut on my forehead and Tohru a few scratches and bruises, he told us sternly not to get 'carried away again', then left, most likely to report straight back to Akito. Maybe he'll think that we're right back on schedule with beating each other senseless. Ahem. Fine. Beating, and being beaten senseless. School starts on Monday. I wish it wouldn't. Ah well, it's my last year. The work's gotten a lot harder, but there's the assurance that soon I'll be free of homework, uniforms and idiotic classmates forever. _

_Then I'll just have to override my Akito fear and get the hell away from here. I hate to admit it, but I need to. I'm not gonna be safe when I'm so close to the main complex, and they know where I am. _

_The only problem is that I can't help but listen to him. I need to get over that. I need to be prepared. Nothing I've done so far has changed Akito's opinion that I deserve to be locked up. I won't allow that to happen. I'm just getting my life into some form of order. I have a boyfriend. I'm passing all my classes well. I have new friends, and I haven't scared them off yet. Everything's going well, and I'm not inclined to let it end just yet. I'll get away, with or without Yuki. As much as that sucks to say._

*~*~*~*

I sigh and close my book, shoving it and my hands back into my pockets. I think my ass is falling asleep. 

It's true. I'll need to get away. Most likely as soon as I've graduated. 

I snort. A picture of myself receiving my certificate in my running shoes then breaking for the woods followed by several psychotic cousins/uncles/whatever else they can scrape up comes my mind. 

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Maybe we'll be able to reach an agreement that doesn't involve me running like a bat outta hell. Maybe hell will freeze over.

I pull my knees up to my chin, wrap my arms around them, and bury my head in the crook created. I don't want to think about it right now. I don't want to think about anything really, but that's what I come up here to do, and that's what happens anyway.

I philosophise without even meaning to. My mind just sort of gravitates towards serious matters. Sometimes, I wish it would just shut up.

Yuki sits down on the tiles next to me. "Hey."

I grunt.

"You're not still mad at me?"

"For what? Taking a swing at Tohru?"

Yuki sighs. "I'm not going to make excuses for myself. It was stupid to try that."

"You're bloody lucky my skull is so fucking thick."

Yuki snorts and drapes an arm over my shoulder as I lean into him. "Don't I know it," sighs my cousin, resting his cheek on the top of my head. His breath tickles a little, but it's warm. Warmer than everywhere else.

I'm starting to regret throwing myself into the fight. But it had only occurred to me at that instant that they weren't playing by any rules. Blade got first blood, but that didn't stop them. I should have expected it. They were both too pissed off to simply disarm each other. The stupid cut on my forehead stings constantly, not helped by the chilly wind, which irritates it to no end. I'll probably end up with a bloody white-patch in my tan. I don't scar, my genes don't allow for that, but at least a scar looks manly. I'll just look like I went to a tanning salon with a streak of sunscreen on my face.

"So… when do you think you'll come down from the roof?"

"Ah," I exclaim loudly, pushing away from the warm form I had been snuggling into, "so that's your ulterior motive! Get Kyo off the roof and back into your bedroom for that hour I promised you!"

Yuki blinks, then smirks. "I forgot about that." He leans closer to me, and breathes softly into my ear, "Thanks for reminding me…"

I 'eep', and resist the confusing urges that bubble up inside of me. One tells me to slide off the roof and head for the hills, and the other commands I shove my tongue down his throat. I slowly turn my head to stare sternly at my cousin, his face inches from mine. "Has anyone ever told you you're confusing?"

Yuki closes the gap between us for a brief, open-mouthed kiss that leaves me breathless. 

Yuki breezes to his feet, and then gazes down on me, where I still perch, flushed. "Are you coming?"

I nod dumbly, and take the hand Yuki offers me.

"Soo, school tomorrow, are you two love-birds ready?"

We wiped Shigure's memory last night. He had called Hatori, and we couldn't let anything leak, and Shigure is a metaphorical sieve. I feel bad about it. I really do. But I'm not prepared to be ridiculed even more. It's bad enough that it appears everyone knows that Yuki wants to screw me.

I slip my hand from Yuki's and glare. "I'm just happy that it's the last term."

Shigure smiles widely. "Ahh, Kyo-kun, surely you can find a… more substantial reason to be happy?"

I growl at what he's implying, and stomp off into my room. I don't like being teased about something that I haven't done. Yet. My face heats up at the thought.

Yuki/Shimo's sword sits in the corner of my room. Yuki refused to acknowledge it, even though he found a matching sheath in his room. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just 'minding' it for him until he comes round. I think the thought of holding the sword and using it as a gift is a little creepy. I'm sure he'll get over it. It's a damn fine weapon.

I collapse on my bed and stare at the ceiling. Two steps forward, one step back. I know that I can rely on my Elementals to come back when I need them, but now they're all back, and I have one more twirling through my system.

I close my eyes. 

"Kyo?"

Yuki's soothing presence enters the room, and he sits down on the bed next to me. I keep my eyes closed, and wonder what's gonna happen next. It's all so cliché, pretending to be asleep. Hell, I thought magic was cliché as well; maybe this'll work for me too. Rock on anime.

Yuki cups the side of my face tenderly in a feather-light embrace, and runs his thumb gently over my lips. Unable to stop myself, I open my lips slightly, and let my tongue dart out to run over his straying digit.

Yuki jerks his hand back with a startled curse.

I open my eyes and smirk at the startled expression on my cousin's face. "Come for that hour?"

Yuki recovers enough to say, "If I had, I would have shut the door.

I glance over at the door in time to see Shigure darting away, giggling. "Maybe you should have shut it anyway."

"Remind me to kill him sometime."

"Can-do."

I shut to door from where I sit, and Yuki lies down with a groan next to me, and throws an arm over my waist. We snuggle closer, our noses almost touching. 

"I don't want to go to school."

"Kyo, when do you ever want to go?"

"That's not the point. When school finishes, Akito's gonna wanna close me in a box forever or something."

Yuki's eyebrows lower fractionally. "Who says we'll let him?"

Maybe I do have his support for this. "True. There's no way in hell I'm going. I'd rather run away with the Yuki fan-club than do that."

I can't stand the annoying onnas, constantly ganging up on my Yuki. It's like Narcissistic, Clingy and Co. I wonder what they'd do if they found out that I'm the one that he seems determined to have, despite how much I try to put him off, curse at him, attempt to beat him into a bloody pulp, berate him, pretend to hate his guts etc… I don't know, I don't claim to understand the jerk. It wouldn't end well.

"Ow. Is that your worst nightmare?"

"Something like it."

"Ah well, life can't be that bad if your worst nightmares are about vain whore-bags from our school,"

My mind takes a few seconds to register that. Yuki just insulted someone other than myself. People from his own grade, and all. I thought that was illegal or something, what with his being a President. He's certainly never done it before.

A thought suddenly occurs to me. "I've been thinking…"

"Does it hurt?"

I glare and hit Yuki as he smiles at me mockingly. "K'so nezumi, urusai!"

"Hai, hai baka neko."

I close my eyes and poke my tongue out at him, in a wondrous display of maturity. Before it can even be registered to my brain, Yuki's kissing me with a lot of tongue and not a lot of restraint, and I reel back, spluttering. I reach behind my head, pull out my pillow, and start beating him with it as he laughs in a teasing sort of way. "Don't!" whack "Do that!" whack "When I'm trying to make a point!" Boom-smack, and Yuki is lying on the floor next to my bed looking dazed. Single beds just weren't made to hold two people beating each other to death with pillows. "Now! Are you gonna listen to me, or not!?"

"Yes, master."

"Just for that, you can stay there as far as I'm concerned." I stuff my pillow back under my head, and roll onto my stomach. 

"Fine then, I'm sorry. But you just don't seem to realise how hard it is for me to lie so near to you and not want to touch you."

Feeling heat rising to my cheeks, I stare at the predatory look in my cousin's eyes. "You can definitely stay down there, then," I manage to choke out. I'm not surprised when my voice breaks. Yuki pouts, and I reluctantly pass him my pillow to sit on, and scoot closer to the side of the bed. "What are we supposed to do at school?"

The mouse props his head up on my bed next to me, sprawled halfway on, one of his hands lying next to my side. "In what context?"

"Well, I mean, end of last term, we were at the snugly holding hands stage. Now you keep trying to jump my bones. You're bloody unsubtle about it as well. Just… don't do it at school."

"And why not?" Yuki protests, sounding rather offended.

"Because, we're both guys, and to top it all off, we're cousins. I know that's perfectly normal in our sad excuse for a family unit, but normal families… don't. Usually. Oh yeah, and I don't particularly want to have my eyes scratched out by your fan club."

"I see," he murmurs, the hand close to my side drawing small circles in my sheets, his hand moving closer to me with every loop his finger preforms. I can see where this is headed, and suddenly realise in the course of events, my shirt had ridden up slightly, revealing a small amount of tanned flesh. 

"Stop making designs for me, and pay attention!" I yell, yanking my shirt down.

Yuki blinks at me innocently. His hand stills. 

"Bad teenage hormones."

"Sir, yes sir."

"Well?"

"Well, what do you want me to do about it? Pretend this never happened and act like a jerk again?"

"If it's more convincing, then yes."

"Fine then, I won't jump you at school."

"Great. Now, what about the elementals? What if one appears at school?"

Yuki shrugs his shoulders half-heartedly, staring at my bedspread. "If it's big, like Tempest was, then we might have to evacuate the school. If it's small, like Blossom, then we'll have to contain it as best we can, and try to act like nothing happened."

"Yeah. 'half the school totally didn't just burn down,' or something like that?" I ask, my voice oozing sarcasm.

Yuki raises an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. "More like 'we were totally never involved with half the school burning down. We just ran away screaming in the completely opposite direction'."

"Subtle."

"Well, we can't wipe the memories of the entire school. They'd still wonder why half the school is smouldering later."

"True. Well," I roll over to stare at the ceiling, "I guess it's the best we can do, as a team of two people with the collective imagination of a duck."

"Excuse me, who in this room wrote the class play this year?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Ah yes, your original production of Cinderella."

Yuki looks like, for once, he might blush. "Well, I re-wrote it."

"Stellar job."

"I was busy."

"Sure you were."

Yuki and I look at each other with raised eyebrows. 

"This is getting us nowhere," Yuki finally admits.

"Agreed." I stretch, then turn to Yuki with a smirk. "Care for that hour now?"

"Alright."

"… I was kidding."

"I wasn't."

"I was…" Yuki silences me by pressing his lips against mine, slipping further onto the bed to practically lie on top of me. One of his hands twists one of my nipples through my shirt, and I gasp, clawing at the bed sheets and accidentally allowing Yuki better access to my mouth. I wind an arm around his neck as he starts to kiss and lick down my jaw line to my neck. One of his hands flicks open the first button on my shirt, and I shove Yuki off me, panting. 

Yuki's eyes are feral, and he regards me like a wolf might regard a lump of meat. "And therein lies the flaw," Yuki mutters, sweeping his eyes over me from where he crouches like he's ready to spring near the foot of my bed, between my sprawled and parted legs. "Take off your shirt."

"What?"

"This is my hour, and I'm the teacher. Sensei says 'take off your shirt.'"

Unwillingly, I undo the rest of the buttons on my shirt and sit forward to slip it off my shoulders, then throw it over the side of the bed. "Gaksei says sensei is a jerk."

Yuki tuts, crawling closer to me. "Don't make me punish you for being rude…"

I can feel my eyes widen in my flaming face, and I start to, as Shigure puts it, ineffectually sissy-slap Yuki. "Stop talking kinky!"

Yuki chuckles as he defends himself from my weak attack. "Terribly," he kisses my neck again, "Terribly," and places a warm hand to my chest, "sorry."

There it is. A momentous occasion in Kyo history. Yuki has a hand on my chest, and I haven't shoved/kicked him off wailing like a banshee. The fast that he's currently sucking on my neck does help distract things though. 

"There… you got a hand on me… wanna stop now?" I manage to choke out. I just feel really self-conscious. Embarrassed, even though I know, well, am fairly sure there's no one watching. 

"You want me to stop?" Yuki murmurs, before swirling his evil tongue around one of my nipples. I arch my back for better access and involuntarily moan.

"Damn you…"

I shuffle further down on the bed, and stick my tongue in Yuki's ear, getting a great sense of satisfaction when I hear him groan. "Two can play at that game, you horny bastard…"

My tongue flits lightly around the shell of his ear, then I nibble and suck on his lobe, as Yuki stops his onslaught to get a taste of his own medicine. 

A hand forces my face around to face my cousin, and our tongues clash again. Yuki pulls back eventually to catch his breath, and pants, "You learn quickly,"

"I have a good teacher... even if he is a bloody bastard." I glance over at the clock. "Your hour's up."

"What?"

I shrug my shoulders as best I can with my arms wrapped around my teacher's neck. "I'm counting our talk as well."

Yuki scowls at me like I've run over his puppy. "You're not playing fair."

"Life's not fair. C'mon, off you trot, I have to get dressed… re-dressed. Go on."

Yuki reluctantly climbs off me, still scowling. "I…"

I sit up and retrieve my shirt from the floor. "Next time, your shirt's coming off too."

I'm pulling my shirt and buttoning it as I pretend not to watch Yuki walking gingerly out of the room, reluctant to cause too much friction between himself and his pants.

I can't help but smirk. Shit like this makes my day worthwhile.

And that's where I leave it, because that's where my poor little ball of courage runs out. Take pity on me, this is my first time writing… anything of the sort… Nyes.

Take pity on me. Leave a review.


	18. Seventeen

Whoo hoo! Still luv ya all. I got a gold star from a person that likes my writing and doesn't even *like* Yuki/Kyo pairings, which I am very proud of, and people thought that my first attempt at a lime was okay. Someone even said my story was hot & sexy… thanks for that, even though I hadn't actually realised that people could see it that way. Whatever floats your boats, dudes. Just keep reviewing, and I'll keep being happy. Oh yeah, merry Easter. It's also my mum's birthday, and I totally forgot to get her something… _'. I kept thinking 'nah, it can't be on Easter Sunday, that would be weird' and that I had more time to shop. And then I did not. So I'm being slave for the day, and I'm gonna get her something soon as well. It's just hard, with no shops open. Tomorrow is another day, however.

_*~*~*~*_

_2.11.03 - 6.45 PM_

_Well, school was back in, and it was just as boring and seemingly pointless as ever. I still have to fend off glomp-attacks, as does Yuki, and I must say, we're turning out to be quite good actors. The mouthing off at each other has sort of turned into a competitive sport, with more fun behind it than it usually has. It's just really a running tally that we have going, to see who can insult each other the most. Yuki's winning, but only by one point. That hasn't stopped him from acting smug. I don't think Tohru quite knows what to think about our sudden change in attitude. She seems a little saddened that we're acting this way again; maybe we should let her into the joke. Maybe if we act all snugly and cute at home (gag) she'll get the picture, that we're doing it for the sake of the class…and not to get our eyes scratched out by scary fan-women. Eriol has taken it upon himself to start hanging around with us, much to the pain of Yuki, which in my current guise, I take much satisfaction in. Is he going to be jealous of every male friend that I have, or is it just something about Eriol that rubs Yuki the wrong way? As previously mentioned, I don't claim to understand the jerk. Since it's only the first day of school, today was really a day of stuffing about and getting things back in order. Still, some things are inescapable. Like math homework. I hate math, so very very much._

_*~*~*~*_

I stuff the book back into shadows, and then stuff it on the shadow of my head board, before reluctantly returning to my desk to finish my god-accursed math homework. It's not necessarily hard, it's just inconvenient. I'll get it done, but I wont be happy about it. 

My mind wanders as I scrawl down sums in my book.

Well, the 'touching Kyo' session was certainly interesting. A real eye opener. Well, we've progressed; Yuki can officially fulfil all his twisted little fantasies with me (if I let him) because we've figured out that I can in fact be touched without running away screaming. It was really quite fun, and now I know I can make him squirm as well. The next time I want his attention, I'll just shove my tongue in his ear. Okay, not a very good ethic for working together, but the bastard's cornered me enough for the past month to deserve it. It's about bloody time I start getting my own back.

I finish my sums, shove everything back in my bag for tomorrow, and head downstairs to set out the things for dinner. I still try to help around the house whenever I can, when I'm not being harassed, talking to Shimo, being teased by Shigure or recuperating from yet another blasted Elemental attack, which is to say, once in a blue moon. My life's certainly busy these days. 

Tohru smiles gratefully and stammers out the usual 'you don't have to help, Kyo-kun, surely you have something more important you can be doing,' and as usual, I ignore her attempt to make me not help, and set the table, and scoop the rice into bowls. The four of us sit down, and the usual mixture of chatter and arguments ensue. I clear away the dishes into the sink, then head back upstairs to my room. It almost feels like one of the usual days that I used to experience… that is, apart from the distinct smell of Yuki that I get when I sit down on my bed. A particular feeling shoots through me, and I immediately stand up again, uncomfortable to sit on my own damn bed. Damn you for smelling good, Yuki.

Picking up a new set of boxers, I head for the shower. 

I don't really have baths, relaxing just never seems to really be anything that I really care about. I can live without it, and baths involve running the water, getting the temperature right, and a whole lot more shit that I just can't be bothered doing. So I take showers.

I emerge about ten minutes later, and slip quietly back into my room to get dressed for bed. 

'_Kyo?_'

I pause from attacking my head with a towel to answer Shimo. '_Yeah?_'

'_Have you sensed anything lately?_'

'_I don't think so. I'll tell you if I do, okay?_'

'_Ah, Kyo, you may not be sensing anything, but then what precisely is in our room?_'

I drop my towel by the bed, my hair still rather wet, and hurry towards the door. 

Suddenly, Shimo's shock explodes into my mind, then there's the equivalent of mental silence going on from Shimo. Like, uber nothing. Like an open telephone line with no one talking. Then, slowly, thoughts start fading back in, but not the controlled thoughts that Shimo can direct straight at me, but a spilling of mental jabber.

'_Argh! What was that… why is that… I didn't realise… holy fuck, why do I have wings?_'

I burst into Yuki's room, and stare at a confused looking Shimo, standing in the middle of the room, his wings slightly ruffled, and window wide open, allowing in a cold breeze. The jabber changes, but definitely continues, practically drowning out my own thoughts. 

'_Oh, thank god… Kyo will know what's going on… damn he looks good when he's wet… I have to catch him after showers more… why is he glaring at me like that?_'

"Shimo, shut up!"

Shimo glares iclily at me. "It's not Shimo, baka, it's Yuki."

I frown even more than I had been before. "Since when has Yuki had red hair and wings?"

"Something happened to us, duh. Something that we guessed was an elemental was on my desk. Shimo came to and tried to chase it, but when he touched it…" 'Yuki' trailed off to lift his hands. "We sort of… switched."

This is good. Keep him talking. Talking makes the mental jabber fade a little, but I can still feel a headache coming on. "So you're trying to tell me that Shimo's stuck in the body of my boyfriend?"

'_Wow, he called me his boyfriend… I guess we're finally getting somewhere… I hope I get to…_'

"Yuki, keep talking!" I command, placing a hand to my forehead.

"It's not really stuck, it's more…"

'_It's good that Kyo's started eating again, he was getting a bit thin… not that I really mind…he's still a sexy kitty…_'

"YUKI!" I snap, my face heating up, "Put Shimo on!"

God, at least Shimo has restraint.

Yuki/Shimo shakes his head. "I can't. That's what I've been trying to tell you. I cant. Shimo's… not there…"

Oh god.

'_Oh god,_'

"Oh god, does this mean I'll be stuck in this body?"

I shake my head, refusing to believe it. I don't want to put up with his mental nattering any more. He has no control.

'_Yuki, I want you to shut up for a second. Seriously. I can't think while you're projecting every single thought you're having at the world._'

'_What the hell? How are you doing that?_'__

I sigh with relief. It seems that thinking a conversation doesn't leave too much time for mindless subconscious talking. '_Shimo and I do this all the time. It's how we communicate if we're away from each other, or if we're somewhere public. You're in Shimo's form, so you have his abilities. I need you to use his ability to shut up_'

'_What do you mean?_'              

'_This is what you're currently doing to my brain._' I pause for a moment to disable all the little walls of restraint around myself, and amplify the noises in my mind. I barrage him with every single little thought that occurs to me, from how I wish someone would shut the damn window, to the little niggling thought that if I don't get to bed soon, I wont get up in time for school tomorrow. I cut it off when I see Yuki/Shimo blink with surprise. Instant headache. '_This is what I want you to do_.'

I clear the airwaves, projecting only silence. I try not to let my frustration slip into it, trying to keep it all purely calming. I hope it works. The jabber fades a little, but is still present. I can live with it at this level. 

'_Good boy. Now. So, let me get this straight. You touched the thing; Shimo got shunted into the background? Let's try bringing back the Yuki-body._'

I mentally delve right into Yuki/Shimo, and pull on the metaphorical ring-tab. The shocked silence practically deafens me, then the bright wings wrap back around his body. 

"Kyo my dear, what's going on?"

"That's what I want to know." I mutter, running a hand through my hair as Shimo/Yuki takes a step forward and practically falls flat on his face. I'm guessing he's used to having to compensate for wings. Even when he had to talk and use Yuki's body while Yuki was still in it, I guess that Yuki controlled the menial functioning of the body for Shimo. This would be a new one for the poor spirit.

"Why am I in Yuki's…!!" 

I catch Shimo as he practically falls over, then help him over to sit on his body's bed. "Just… Stay still."

"I think I'll do that."

"So… you tried to catch the thing on Yuki's desk?"

"Yes, and that's the last thing I remember. Well, I guess this confirms it, the thing was an Elemental."

"No shit."

Shimo/Yuki frowns. "This is so odd. Yuki needs to go to the bathroom. I haven't felt things like this before. I have experienced things through both you and your cousin, but that was always on a purely secondary level." Shimo looks up from the sheets he had been twiddling with to stare at me. "How long do you suppose that I will be stuck in this body?"

"Why do you ask?"

Feeling slightly anxious, I knock once more on the door to the bathroom.

"'Yuki', are you sure you're alright in there?"

There's the muted sound of flushing, then Shimo/Yuki replies "Yes my dear, all goes well,"

I glare at the door. "Stop calling me that, and get back out here!"

"Love, I haven't washed my hands, do you want me to be unhygienic?"

God damnit, he just switched to another of the rather embarrassing names Shimo insists on calling me. I refused to let him call me 'master', so now he appears to be getting his own back by calling me even goofier things.

"Hurry up then!" 

Sulking, I lean against the doorway facing away from it and wait for Shimo to stop stuffing around. He's enjoying all the sensations of humanity too damn much. I don't know how I can hide the marked changes in my cousin's behaviour when it comes to food. That's another new sensation he hasn't dealt with yet. 

The door bursts open behind me, and Shimo comes tumbling unsteadily out, leaning on the handle for support. "Ha! Now I know why you humans are so insistent for drawing out your lives for as long as possible. Such a bouquet of emotions that I haven't been privy to until this odd turn of events!"

Shimo looks positively delighted to be stuck in the body of my cousin. Like it's all one big adventure. 

I stare at him suspiciously. "You realise that you're gonna have to give that back, right?"

"Oh, of course," Shimo laughs, waving a hand at me, "I wouldn't consider keeping this form with all it's high-maintenance needs. It's fun to try though."

"Uh huh." I reply, unconvinced. "Well, we're having dinner soon. I suppose you'll have to come… try not to do anything suspicious. Act jaded and unimpressed with life. Act like you're too good for this. Basically, act like Yuki."

Shimo nods, looking uncertain, his eyes cast to one side. "I'll try,"

"Seriously Shimo, this is an order. Be Yuki."

Shimo finally looks me in the eye, and it's disconcerting to see such devotion in their depths. It only just occurs to me how deeply devoted Shimo is to me. He takes it all so seriously. My stomach lurches as the thought that his calling me 'dearest' or 'love' aren't endearments, but actually how he feels. "I'll try, my dear."

Tee hee. Shimo's a squiffy bunny. That's also rather weird, 'squiffy' is in the Word dictionary. I see. Well, anyway, that's it for this time. I've been spewing out chapters a lot lately, I really need a hobby. Review if you find it worthy!


	19. Eighteen

Argh. The holidays are almost over. That sucks most horribly. Well, one thing that I *have* accomplished these holidays: I borrowed the 3-set of Weiss Kreuz DVDs off a friend, and then had an anime marathon with my sister. The first few are rather dodgy, and the subtitles were funnier than the rest of the anime combined because they were seriously on crack, but besides that, one and a half thumbs up. I don't know if that possible, but hey. Okay, she's shutting up now.

I really wish I could have just told Shigure and Tohru that Yuki was sick, so he could avoid the dinner entirely. But that would have been stupid. Shigure and Tohru would have gone to visit him, and knowing those two, they would have called Hatori. The doctor would have come round, and then everything would be blown from here to China. I don't want to try wiping the memories of someone who can wipe memories. That's just weird. That and Shimo was proud to inform me that Yuki was hungry. 

And so we troop downstairs when summoned, and I clasp Shimo's hand firmly in my own, but let him lead me downstairs. This allows me to yank his hand back to remind him of how he has to balance now that he's not burdened down with a giant pair of wings.

We settle across the table from each other, and I sprawl cross-legged so that I can kick Shimo into attention if I need to.

I glare a warning at Yuki, Yuki stares blandly across at me, Shigure raises an eyebrow at both of us, and Tohru has the same sort of expression on as one of the musicians who played while the Titanic was sinking. 

"So Yuki, how was school?"

'Yuki' continues to pick at his rice until I boot him, at which point he blinks, looks up, and replies "Fine."

"Ah, that's good."

I think they can tell there's something wrong. It's quiet. Everyone focuses on their meals. The silence hangs around us thickly, and I feel a growing urge to break it, but don't know how without seeming out of character.

I boot Shimo again, and he sends me a warning glare before asking for the salt. Not precisely what I was hoping for, but it's something. 

I can't help but stare as Yuki starts shaking salt on his rice. And doesn't stop. Shigure's head turns to watch the rain of salt continue onto Yuki's hapless rice, and Tohru attempts to strike up conversation.

We don't mean to, but her words pass in one ear and out the other.

I lean across the table and snatch the salt out of his hands. "It's dead, already," I mutter, scattering a smidgen of salt over my chicken before firmly placing the shaker out of reach of my strange guardian.

'Yuki' shrugs, then continues to eat his rice. Eew. Sodium overload and a half. Well, I guess that's Shimo preferences coming through. I didn't know that he had any. 

Everyone finishes eating, and I quickly steal all the plates, bowls and glasses, hopefully banishing all thoughts of friendly chatter.

I bustle back into the dining room, and give Shimo a significant look. He nods once, then stands up and excuses himself. I have to use every ounce of self-control I own not to run back up the stairs. 

Shigure murmurs something about a lover's spat as we go, and I growl. I hurry back into my room, and Shimo follows, so I close the door.

"Got salt?"

Shimo smiles and shrugs. "That's the way I like it."

"You're sick, you know that right?" I ask, collapsing onto my bed. This evening has me wound up tight.

Shimo shrugs again. "To each their own."

"Dude," I say, turning to face Shimo as he leans against the wall opposite me, "A little salt is fine. The amount of salt that you put on your rice could smother a small European country."

Shimo throws me an exasperated look. "Now that's a bit of an overstatement."

"Is it just?"

Shimo rolls his eyes. "So, when are we going to look for that thing?"

"Thing? Oh. Right. The jerk-off that switched you and Yuki around. We have school tomorrow, so we'll start after school."

Oh, damnit.

"Shimo, we have school tomorrow. You'll need to act like Yuki again."

Shimo frowned. "Yes, that could pose a problem. Can't I be sick?"

I shake my head. "Nah, that would only draw attention to yourself. Your health has always been an issue, and if you start claiming that you need a day off to recuperate, then Hatori will be called. Hatori knows his stuff."

"Mm. True," Shimo murmurs. "Well then, there's nothing for it dear one, I'm going to have to play-act Yuki at your school." He pouts in his well-mannered way. "How ever am I going to cope with your classes?"

I shrug, feeling no sympathy. "The same way normal students cope, I guess."

"Which is?"

I smirk. "They don't. School is the main source of stress and agony in a normal teenager's life. We barely get by class to class. The breaks in between are where we complain bitterly, stretch our limbs, and try to dredge up enough sanity to deal with the next class."

"Ah. I see. Sounds like a real blast," Shimo replies dryly.

"Oh yeah, you'll love it."

I walk into the school gate behind my charge, watching his every move suspiciously. Is he being Yuki enough? Would anyone notice that he wasn't quite right? How on earth would my poor guardian cope with being harassed by the Prince Yuki fan club? I wish that I could properly organise things and actually plan ahead for the worst, but it seems that all I can do is watch. And pray. And beat Shimo over the head if he gets it wrong. 

He gets it fairly right. Well, I'd hope he would, after all the time that he was living in Yuki. There's still a few problems with balance, like when he accidentally hit his head on the locker above while changing his shoes, or when he was walking downstairs, and had to run the last few to not tumble over onto his face, before sliding into the wall opposite, but he was remarkably convincing. He had the polite to all, but acting like they were only slightly more important than bugs thing down-capped, and, when the situation called for it, used his own brand of biting wit in the place of Yuki's (though they are remarkably similar to the untrained ear). 

But now, lunchtime. The ultimate test. Is Shimo cousin-worthy?

Tohru, Shimo and I settle down for lunch with Uo and Hana, which is, of course, invaded by Momiji attempting to glomp Tohru and Haru wandering along in the background. Oh god. I forgot about Hana's creepy-ness. She could tell there was something up with me, and she's almost certain to do the same to Shimo. 

Hana walks docile over to where she usually sits, her Gloomy lunch box held carefully in her pale hands. She pauses a few moments short of sitting down, then turns her piercing gaze at Shimo, then at me. She puts down her lunch box, then walks over to where we sit. I don't look up from my chopsticks, but Shimo holds her gaze. 

"There's something…"

Tempest once again has a go at her. I feel it more than I see it, a tiny little bolt of electricity hitting her hand. Once again, Hana blinks, and walks off like she's in a trance. I give Tempest a mental thumbs up as Tohru and Uo run off after her.

Haru raises an eyebrow. "What's up with her?"

I shrug, keeping my face nearly buried in my obento so people can't see the smirk running across it. "Who knows what the hell is wrong with that space-case?"

'Yuki' ignores us all, reaching into his back-pocket for a little twist of paper, which he then dumps all over his rice.

"Aw, fuck, not the salt again!"

Shimo uses his chopsticks like salad scoopers to toss the substance in, then sucks briefly on the tips of his eating utensils. "Yes, salt. Baka neko, people don't have to like exactly what you like, you know."

"Ne, Yuki, do you have low sodium levels? Did Hatori prescribe that?"

Trust my little cousin to ask such a stupid question. Then again, this is the guy that wears the girl's uniform because he thinks it suits him better. That, to me, does not seem like a healthy male. Asking stupid questions just seems to come with the whole 'too cute to be entirely real' package. I know that he's smarter, and a lot more mature than he acts, but I just can't seem to catch him in the act. It infuriates me.

Shimo raises an eyebrow at Momiji. "No."

Eep. We're bordering on rude here. My foot 'slips' a little, and I kick Shimo in the ankle. His eyes meet mine for a fraction of a second and I raise my eyebrows slightly, then we both go back to eating. 

Silence takes over the group while everyone concentrates on eating. The same thing that happened to the dinner table is happening here. No one's completely comfortable.

I am starting to wish the end of break bell will just ring and end my anxiety. 

I slip the lid back on my half-eaten lunch, and abruptly stand up, hauling Yuki by one arm with me. "Well, Yuki and I need to--"

I am cut off as Shimo drops his lunchbox, and is abruptly surrounded by an ethereal golden glow. I start to swear like a sailor as the wings wrap around the form of my cousin, and the body of Shimo appears. It looks like Yuki's found the same ring-tab that I used before.

"Kyo? I got bored of waiting so I… Oh, shit."

Two more lunch boxes hit the ground.

The only thing I can think of saying is: "Your timing sucks."

Hee hee. Oh dear. Bad cliffie-girl. That was mean. But intensely satisfying. Well, we'll see what happens when I post the next part. Oh yeah, about Hana's lunch box. I don't mean Gloomy just like, depressing, I mean at as in this really cool brand I found in Japan. These really cute cartoon grizzly bears with huge claws performing WWF-style moves on people. I think it's cool and cute, and it just seemed appropriate. Well, maybe that's just me. 


	20. Nineteen

Okay, I totally didn't mean for this chapter to get so long. That just sorta happened. There was no place I could really cut it off, cuz I didn't want this to drag on too much further. There are still more elements to my evil plan! Buwahahaha, etc. Enjoy.

I sincerely wish that I knew which bit to poke to make Shimo's body wipe memories. If I did, I wouldn't so much be poking it as prodding it repeatedly. Couldn't he have waited a few more minutes? 

At least they didn't faint, like Tohru always does, because then we'd have to wait for my cousins to come around until we begged them to keep quiet. The bell might ring while we were waiting, and that wouldn't be good. I don't think this is the sort of thing that 'we'll explain after school' will cover.

"I've decided that I'm going to wait for a calm, reasonable explanation of where the hell you've put Yuki before I kill you." Black Haru informs us helpfully, scowling, his arms crossed tensely across his chest and lurking in the shade of a nearby tree. Oh, I can tell this will be a fun experience. We'll have to explain everything all over again, once White Haru comes back. I hate explaining things twice.

We seem to have found Momiji's sensible streak. He didn't leap back screaming 'Ahh! Kowaii!' like I would have expected him to, and like Haru, he seems to be waiting for an explanation that I'm trying to dredge into working order.

"Um… This is all sorta my fault. I didn't mean to get Yuki involved."

I suddenly feel really stupid. Yes, my Cousin-with-a-homicidal-streak, blame me. That came out really badly.

"A few weeks ago, I got sick. Shimo's explained it all, but I don't really get it." I trail off, suddenly feeling really embarrassed. I wish that Shimo could back me up with logic and reason here, but instead, I get Yuki inspecting his new, other-worldly orange nails like it's none of his business. He reaches a hand up to his ear while I glare at him out of the corner of my eyes, and he then turns to me, a look of pleased discovery etched across Shimo's delicate features.

"Hey, Kyo, did you realise Shimo has piercings? His ears are just studded up and down. I've seen Goths with less studs, hoops and dangly things."

I have to resist the urge to both beat my head against a brick wall, and strangle Yuki. "I… guess it might be easier if you meet Shimo, right?"

Scowling, I stalk over to Shimo, the mental babbling about earrings growing louder as I approach.

Yuki glances up at me, and his eyes widen in comprehension. "Kyo, wait, I've been trapped in there all day! Don't you dare – Ooph!"

Yuki is cut abruptly off as I plant one of my hands in his face to both shut him up and give me easier access to his chest. There's a brief struggle, but eventually, I get a hand into his chest, and trigger the change. Killing two birds with one stone. The prattle ends, and I get my hands on someone who can give a reasonable explanation.

"What did you…."

Momiji looks like he's about to throw up, and Haru looks more suspicious and hostile than he did before. Then the anger seems to melt off his face, when he sees who is left after the light show, and White Haru runs over to Yuki's form and cradles his head.

"He'll be alright in a second."

I watch as Yuki's eyes flutter open, and he clears his throat uncomfortably. Colour starts to rise in his pale cheeks, and it feels like a pit of shock has just opened under my feet.

"Okay, that's enough of that, he's awake already!"

I yank Shimo to his feet, one hand firmly around his wrist and glare at him. The innocent look I get in return is marred by the red still working through his cheeks.

"Shimo, I need you to stop taking a perve out of the corner of your eyes," his cheeks go redder still, "and explain to these nice people what's been happening lately."

Shimo nods, before shaking himself out of my grip. He composes himself in a second, and motions for the other two to sit down.

"To start with, I apologise for what happened earlier. Had I known that Yuki could do such a thing, I would not have taken the risk of experiencing your school."

The picture of calm, Shimo makes Yuki's body sketch a slight but graceful bow, just as I had predicted he might. "When I requested it of him, Kyo, my master, picked a name for me. I am called Shimo. I am here because I want to protect Kyo."

"Why would you want to do that?"

Thanks a lot, Haru. It's nice to feel appreciated.

Shimo's eyes skim over the cow's face. "Because he made me. Before I accidentally repeat what has already been said, what has Kyo already told you?"

Momiji and Haru exchange confused looks. "Nothing? Just something about being sick."

Shimo spares me a glance that says just how unimpressed he is. "Dearest, you're not being very helpful."

"Well," I mutter, feeling my face light up slightly, "It's embarrassing."

"Only to you, dear." 

He turns his attention back to the audience. "I may as well start from the beginning then," he sighs. "Kyo is a very special person."

I turn away, inspecting the side of one of our school buildings closely. 

"For the past few years, I have been inside Kyo. He wasn't aware of me, but I knew him. In a way, I was him, but still a separate being. It seems that Kyo has been creating things without realising it, and I am one of them. A few weeks ago, at the end of Autumn, something unexpected happened. I became able to separate myself entirely from Kyo's conscious, and move into another one. So I did. I chose Yuki. Pulling myself from Kyo was a strain on him, and that was the sickness he experienced a few weeks ago. What was also released at the time, were other beings. For lack of a better name, we call these Elementals. They hold true to their name. Elementals are the raw spirits of nature, and they seem to answer to Kyo. Once he names them, then they are bound to his will, and inhabit his body, much like I did. Kyo? An Example?"

I stick out a finger, and a single cherry blossom floats off the end of it.

Shimo sighs deeply. "Kyo-love. Don't be immature."

"Fine!"

The wind kicks up, blowing a gale, and a cloud of petals is blown through the area that we are sitting in. Momiji squeals, caught somewhere between surprise and delight.

I turn around to catch Haru's expression.

"Flowers?"

A feral grin lights across my face. The fact that I just created a cloud of petals that are completely out of season and blew them through the area doesn't seem to override the fact in my bull-headed (pun) Cousin's head flowers are girly and weak. I start to get a little angry. "What, you'd _prefer_ a bigger light show?"

Before Shimo can object, the wind whips up even further, and lightning crackles overhead while the sky darkens, and the leaves of the trees around us start to glow. Mist, glowing white, is billowing in from the sides.

Lighting strikes the ground at my feet, and seems to dance there for a few seconds. It abruptly disappears, and the ashes left spell out _Himitsu_, concealed or secret. 

The light show abruptly stops, and everything returns to normal. Momiji is in his rabbit-form, and cowering under the log he had been sitting on a minute ago. 

"Wah! Mechya kowaiiiiii…. Don't do that again!"

Shimo, looking ruffled but otherwise unaffected and uninterested, gives me a withering look to end all withering looks. "Now that was immature."

He goes back to gazing piercingly at Haru.

I mentally sigh, and scoop up the Momiji-bunny before turning to Haru. Momiji struggles free, then bounces up to land on my head. My blood-pressure rises, but I refuse to lash-out. 

"Ano… what's wrong with Haru?"

Haru and Shimo are staring straight at each other. His eyes are wide and unseeing, and hands clenching and unclenching in the plain black material of his school pants. I rush over to him, and can hear that his breath is coming in short gasps. Something niggles at me, like someone is trying to talk to me while I'm listening to headphones. I open my mind to the slight noise, and am instantly carried away in the stream of information that is rushing between my cousin's and my guardian's psyches. I can feel my eyes widening with shock on a very basic level, and I rip the two forcefully apart. Ten metres away form each other but at the exact same time, the two collapse.

Momiji leaps-frogs off me, back in the form of a naked human and runs to where Haru lies, and I head for Shimo.

"What the hell was that?"

Shimo shakes his head to clear it, and looks up to where I crouch next to him, rubbing a hand up and down his back. 

"That was one of the stupidest things that I've done for a long time. I was looking into Haru's mind, and…."

"Wait a sec, you can still do that?" I throw up my hands, exasperated. Things would have been a whole lot simpler if he'd just told me that. "Why does no one ever tell me these things?!"

Shimo clears his throat again. "Because you don't ask. Either way, Haru got wind of what I was doing, something that has never happened before, and sort of… clung onto me. I tried to return to my body, but Haru was still attached. Then… what you experienced happened."

"Mental tug o' war?"

Shimo nods, and manages to stand, albeit unsteadily.

"Things got exchanged. I need to see if he's alright, the poor thing…"

Shimo totters over to Haru, and sits down next to him. Haru's eyes slowly open, and his hand slips into my guardian's.

"Oh my god, he's in the body of my boyfriend, get your own!" I growl at Haru. I didn't know I could be so possessive. 

Shimo glares at me defiantly. "I'm my own person, Kyo."

"That's not the – "

Something tugs sharply on my soul, and Shimo and I look up moments before the fire alarm goes off.

There's the sound of an explosion, and smoke starts rising from the other end of the campus.

Momiji and Haru instantly look at me piercingly.

"That was totally not me."

I glance down, and realise that Momiji's still in his birthday suit. "Look, Momiji… for fuck's sake, get dressed, and make sure Haru's okay. Shimo and I are gonna check out what happened."

I spring up, and head out at a sprint around the side of the building we were behind into the main courtyard, feeling more than hearing Shimo following me. Then I stop. The auditorium is burning down. 

A slight, ironic grin flits across my face. "Hey, Shimo. Half the school totally isn't burning down."

Shimo smiles slightly, then quickly wipes it off his face. "This isn't any time for jokes, love. There's an Elemental doing that."

"Damn I'm good."

"Kyo!"

A strangled laugh escapes me, and I start walking quickly towards the blazing building.

"Shimo, I really wish you could help with this one, but I don't want to risk your body's lungs, and I honestly wouldn't trust Yuki with anything more difficult than making his bed right now," I give Shimo a knowing smile, "he's currently on cloud #9 with your nails and earrings."

Yuki blushes and clears his throat again, what he seems to do when he's embarrassed. Yet another original trait of his. It's amazing what a few days in the human race will do to a person.

"So, you stay here, and I'll go throw myself into a really stupid situation, okay?"

I quickly sum up the situation. The left wing of the hall is up in smoke, but the rightwing isn't. I join the crowd of students standing around it wailing, 'ooh' and 'aah' a bit, all the while moving slowly round to the right, shifting my position until I can make a clear dash into the side entrance. 

I open the door, and instantly start coughing as smoke starts to seep out. I instantly step back, and summon Downpour and Tempest. The sky clouds over, and it starts to instantly rain a very satisfying, if not instantly soaking sort of way. I wipe some of my immediately sopping hair out of my face, sigh, and step back to see what good the soak is doing for the fire.  

It takes a while for the constant downpour to really make a difference. Soon the flames that had been licking the sky are replaced more with smoke, apart from in one section, where the fire seems to writhe, but still be holding strong. I take that as the source.

They only problem with this being: it's in the middle of the roof, not anywhere in the hall itself. This would be fine if I had Shimo to serve as a taxi, but I wouldn't trust Yuki with wings. It sounds like a bad collision with a tree waiting to happen. I'm bleakly picturing myself smacking into the trunk of a tall tree next to the ailing building, when I realise that it's tall enough to reach the roof if I can climb high enough.

It's worth a shot.

Don't let it ever be said that cats aren't effective tree-climbers, we're among the best. The only problem that the domestic cat, the one that I happen to transform into, has is getting back down the tree. It's all very well and good getting to the highest branch of the tree, but climbing back down a virtually vertical surface without going head-over-tail and making a complete ass of yourself is a lot harder. Claws weren't made for that sorta shit.

Anyone who owns a cat will agree, if a cat does happen to do something completely stupid, they either act like they hadn't, or, if that option's impossible because of the evidence, like being wet from the back legs down after falling into a pool, they slink off into a corner, and act more than a bit like their egos have been bruised. This is yet another annoying habit that I've picked up. Running away to sulk is just like a cat's slinking off into the night.

I kick off my school shoes, and then remove my socks. These are placed in a bush before I carefully inch up to the first branch of the tree, and haul myself onto it. There's a lot to be said about keeping fit; a normal student couldn't have done what I did in twice that time that I managed it. From there I manage to move from branch to branch ever higher until I finally slink over the edge and onto the roof itself. I instantly regret not bringing my shoes, as the roof, while not actually burning where I am, is still being warmed quite effectively from inside. Scampering is the best way to describe my swift dance across the rooftop. Thankfully I've had plenty of practice on my house's roof, so the only real challenge is trying to not let my feet burn off.

Images that I've seen in bad television programs with names like 'Real TV' of roofs collapsing in fires and shit going to hell in a handcart come to mind as I make my mad dash from relative safety towards the actual danger area. The only thing that keeps me from saying 'sod this for a game of silly-buggers' is the growing sense inside me that yes, this is an Elemental, I'm not just throwing myself at a fire for no good reason. Although it's not the best life, I'm not about to end it.

I stare up at the pillar of flame that I'm supposed to subdue then name, and wish that I had had the foresight to find myself a plain water Elemental before I tried my luck against the essence of fire. I feel like David when I finally saw that Goliath really was as tall as people said he was. I don't even know how to get it's attention. 

A stream of high-pressure water hits the column, and I look down at the fire trucks that are trying to save as much of the building as possible.

The fire writhes, then flows towards the edge of the building towards the hapless firemen. Not happy. It's what I'd do as well, if someone turned the hose on me.

"Er… Oi! Ugly!"

I freeze a chunk of the pillar, and it blows up in a rather satisfying way. Oh yeah, ice and fire go boom. I learnt this in science at one stage. The pillar turns straight at me. Throwing myself at the ground with my hands over the back of my head, I manage to protect my hair from singeing off my head as it swoops over me. I can't say that much for my clothes or the backs of my hands. I scream like a girl and roll across the roof a few times until my clothes finally stop smoking, then try to regain my composure. The water falling from above is hell on my burns, but I know that it's the best thing for them right now. Another thing I remember from 'fire safety day' is that if you're trying to put out a fire on your own, aim at the base of it.

It hits me that this is true. The fire is coming from, and concentrated in one spot. I hit the ground again to avoid another sweep of flame, then leap up and run at the source. 

Ice is already covering my arms, but nothing prepares me for sicking my hands up to my elbows into fire. The fire blows apart, and I pull my arms out to cover my face. When everything clears, the only thing left is a singed spot on the ground, and the frozen form of a Pheonix, it's wings outstretched and beak open with a cry of fury.

I fall boneless to the floor, and manage to get the name out. "Flame…"

When the feeling of being singed dies down and my newest Elemental is settled in, I stumble to my feet, careful not to use my arms to do anything, even bend them. My world is pain on a whole new level.

Not thinking, I peer over the edge at the crowd below. "Shit!"

Shimo spots me, and starts working his way to the back of the crowd and out of it, as I unsteadily head back the way I came. I can only hope that no one else saw me on the roof. I'd hate to try and explain that explosion right now. This time when I peer over the edge, there's only a familiar grey-haired person waiting. 

"Kyo? Are you… what the hell happened up there?"

"I don't quite know…"

"… But look!" he holds up an angry looking grey thing, which reminds me of a ferret crossed with a snake. "I think I found the thing that screwed us around before!"

I sincerely wish I could sweep some of my hair off my face. But I can't.

"How do you know that?"

I vault over the edge and land at the feet of Yuki's body.

He smiles slightly, an evil little smirk that I've only seen once on that particular face. "This is Yuki talking."

"Are you sure this time?"

Yuki takes a bold step forward and whispers "you'd better believe it" in my ear, before, I guess, looking down.

"Kyooooooo-kuuuunn! Shiiiiiiiiimoooo!"

Momiji bounds up to us, and then looks me up and down, aghast. 

"Momiji, would you mind calling Hatori? It seems that Kyo was caught in the fire."

The blonde bunny shakes his head feverishly. "Nuh-Uh, screw Hatori, I'm calling the hospital!"

I blink with surprise, but my cousin's gone and running for the administration building before I can comment.

"Take off your jacket."

Wincing, I reach for my collar, but Yuki hisses with sympathy as he sees my hands, then removes it for me.

"Well… You're going to need a new uniform"

"Thanks for that, just what I needed to hear."

"Well, I what would you prefer? Me telling you how horrible you look from back here, or me trying to make the best of it?"

He has a point.

*~*~*~*

_13.11.03 – 10.43 AM_

_This is actually Yuki writing. Kyo ordered that I bring his book with me when I came to see him (we're picking him up tomorrow and bringing him back to the house) so that he could write, but seemed to forget that his hands are bound, and he isn't supposed to move them for at least a week. Silly kitty. Kyo asked me to write down what he dictates, but right now I'm ignoring him to get down the reason why I'm writing. Heh, this is quite satisfying. He's yelling at me, but that's all that he can do. Okay, I'll stop teasing._

_I was brought to the hospital in an ambulance, rather dramatic for a few burns (i.e.: having his arms and entire back-half of his body scolded, 2nd-degree hand burns! I don't want to know what he did to get those) and then shoved in this bed, where I've been lying on my stomach all god-damn night, and will be whenever I sleep from about now until the end of time. Hah, suffer Yuki, you can't jump an invalid (We'll see about that)! I think that I have Momiji and Haru's words that they'll keep quiet, and I guess I trust them. I hope they realise that it's a lot more serious than we've made it seem. Well, it can be (I have to agree, going by the number of times over the past month he's had bandages on, everyone must think that we're either fighting more than usual, or that he's become a klutz). So, now there are two new Elementals, Flame and Exchange. Why do they always seem to come in groups? Are they seriously trying to kill me? Don't answer that question. Don't… stop writing this down! If I could stand out without burly nurses from hell on my ass, I'd smack you from here to Australia!_

_I should stop. Our poor little patient is getting flustered. To put it lightly. I think he'll seriously try to kill me when he reads this. Oh well, it was amusing at the time._

_Yuki, standing in for a sickly Kyo._

*~*~*~*

Okay, just to clear things up, Haru and Shimo… I'm not sure what I was thinking there, it was a random moment thought that escalated. Basically, they exchanged a lot of memories, so… Now they know each other. Whee. Oh, and 'mechya' is a slang word I picked up in Japan. Although I'm not entirely sure if it's used outside 'Osaka-ben', I decided it's a better sorta cute substitute for saying 'totemo' (very) all the time. They mean the same thing. It's amazing what you pick up walking through a toy-department with a bunch of squeally half-insane Japanese school-girls. Just tellin' ya. Oh yeah, review.


	21. Twenty

Here we are, with yet another chapter… while I should really be writing two reports I have due on Tuesday. Ah well. I'm a chronic procrastinator. I'm also listening to a Nine Inch Nails album that one of my friends let me borrow… Quite good. Downward Spiral. Tis' good.

"Kyo, open up."

I shake my head stubbornly. "Nuh-uh you freak,"

Yuki, a vision of patience, firmly grips my jaw and forces my mouth open, shoving a spoon into the gap created.

Choking, I try to stop the hearty pea soup that Tohru has made especially for me from going up my nose. "God damnit, I can eat, already!"

"Oh yes, I can see that working, what with the use of no hands. Just accept it."

"I feel like pathetic when you try to do things like this! I can feed myself, I can bathe myself, and god damnit, I can dress myself, you pervert!"

Yuki blinks at me innocently, like the thought that being my nurse meant he could be with me alone and naked had never occurred to him.

"Look." 

I concentrate, and the spoon lifts out of the bowl in Yuki's hands, then hits him smartly on the head. "Hah!"

Yuki rubs his scalp, then glares at me as he finds traces of soup in his hair. "That's great Kyo, but the doctor said to not allow you to do anything strenuous."

"What? You're so twisting his words! He didn't mean mentally!"

"No, Kyo. I'm going to have a quick shower. You stay here and…"

"Rot?"

"Yes, that seems like a nice calm activity."

"You know, some people say that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

My cousin shrugs. "No one's perfect. I need to get ready, so…"

"What for?"

"Haru's coming over."

I raise an eyebrow. "This hasn't ever concerned you before,"

"He's not coming to see me, baka neko, he's coming to see Shimo."

"So you're being the chaperone?"

"It's almost impossible for me to not be there. Well, you listen to music or something. Don't over-exert yourself."

I hate it when he says things like that. He's been fine with me being injured before, but now he's suddenly being Overprotective Man. With eyes in the back of his head, and super-strong word twisting powers, Overprotective Man smites the powers of privacy and personal space to be the most annoying family member known to man!

I flick on my much-unused radio that serves to be a dust-magnet in the corner of my room, and go about feeding myself once more. 

People have been making such a fuss about me since my time in the hospital. Anyone would think that I was practically killed or something. Yuki made up some crap about being trapped in the hall when it was burning for me, and I provided some extra details of my frightening plight. When I arrived at school today, the story was already highly embellished, with me single-handedly lifting a burning beam to get to safety, and other bits of nonsense, but they can't accuse me of anything, because the firemen's reports once it all stopped burning proved inconclusive. I think the melting ice threw them off a little. I couldn't actually write, so basically I sat around in class looking like death-rewarmed and got Yuki to photocopy his notes for me later. One good thing, I can't really be expected to complete homework. My afternoons are my own. Tohru and Shigure are treating me like glass, and Hatori gave me a complete fucking check up, to confirm what the doctor at the hospital had already told me: Don't use your hands, don't do too much, sleep on your stomach, check your bandages daily, and we'll see how you're doing in two week's time. Thanks, guys. I dread the thought of what I'll do if another Elemental shows up. Knowing my luck, one will. And I'll get even more hurt, and told off my Hatori once more, who'll set the date for the bandages to come off back by about a month just to spite me. He's like that. Usually an alright guy, but if a patient disobeys, watch out. 

I resign myself to a week of boredom, interrupted only by glaring suspiciously at Hatsuharu. I'm sure Shimo being in Yuki's body is what he considers an added bonus. I get really jealous about it. They blather on for hours about god knows what, while I sit in my room, doing my impersonation of a mummy. 

I finish my lunch and flop down onto my bed like a beached whale, flat on my stomach with my arms hanging over the side, before glaring at the wall. Yuki says I pout, but then I curse at him, and he drops the subject. I hate it when people call me cute. The one thing that I have aspired not to be in all my existence is cute. I want to be manly, but instead I'm average height, skinny and have hair and eyes that make girls flock to me like goddamned flies. Screaming doesn't seem to make them go away; they just giggle and call me cute even more. That makes me wanna rip their head off, but I can't, because getting too close makes me go all feline. The fact that I'm clearly the submissive one in a pairing of me and a guy that people used to mistake for a girl isn't too great either. I just come in view of the line between girly and manly, reach for the prize, and fall flat on my face. It's aggravating.

But, I'll persevere, I'll finish school, run like a madman, then possibly go find myself a patch of woods and live there are as a hermit, away from annoying relatives, Overprotective Man, and the whole bunch of people that have managed to insult me while throwing what they consider a compliment at me. 

Or maybe that's just the painkillers talking. Yuki has to force me to take one of those every six hours as well, and being the stubborn person that I am, I refuse, saying that I can survive without one, and then have one rammed quite effectively down my throat. Yuki has an amazing amount of patience. He's probably consoling himself by picturing me naked as he does it or something. Perverted rat.

Not that I can talk, there's been a lot of speculation lately over whether he wears boxers or briefs, or possibly even goes commando (drool) going on in my head, but at least I'm not as damn transparent as the object of my query. There's a slight tapping at me door. 

"Kyo-kun? Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"Well, there's a call for you… if you feel up to taking it…"

Poor thing. Tohru's so polite to everyone that I wouldn't be surprised if she's been standing outside my door for a while, debating whether to possibly disturb me while I'm resting (horribly rude, she seems to think), or tell the person that wants to talk to me to go away, because I'm resting (equally rude, leaving the poor girl in quite a jam).

"Yes Tohru, I'm fine, I'll take the call."

The door to my room slides open, and the music dims, making our poor housekeeper glace around my room, confused. The look passes, and she bends down to place the phone in a hand that I feebly stretch out, looks dismayed, then withdraws it. 

"Ah, Kyo-kun, what about your hands? You can't hold it…"

I try to rouse up a smile to get the guilty look off her face. She seems to take everything that goes wrong here as her fault. Like we're going to blame her for everything from the fridge-door being left open overnight to the fall of Rome. 

"It's okay, Just leave the phone on the dresser and I'll deal with it myself."

"But…"

"Really, it's okay. I promise I won't use my hands."

"But…"

"Please trust me?"

"Yes, Kyo-kun, I mean, yes, I do trust you, Kyo-kun. I'll put it on the dresser for you. Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm okay."

"Alright then…"

Tohru throws me a hasty and somewhat worried smile, then hurries out the door, shutting it behind herself. I manuver myself into a sitting position, then hold the phone to my ear with my mind.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Kyo-san."

"Ah! Eriol? Sorry I took so long, but I needed to get myself into a position where I could actually use the phone…"

"That's quite understandable, Kyo-san. I didn't mind waiting; I'm a patient man."

I tense up at that comment. Innuendo, much? Yuki's comment from a few weeks ago flashes through my mind: 'he wants you', then I dismiss it with a quick shake of my head. Yuki's just a jealous freak.

"Yeah, well, sorry anyway. So, what's up?"

"I was just enquiring into your health. Today at school you didn't seem too happy," a hint of humour enters the flawlessly polite voice, "especially when Yuki insisted on feeding you at lunch."

I scowl, wishing that facial expressions could be sent down phone lines. Yuki chasing me around with an obento, then practically choking me until I swallowed the damn rice he was trying to feed me. "Yeah, well… He's being a bit..."

After being non-existent the lunchtime before (halleluiah) when Yuki decided to spoil everything by having the worst timing known to man, Eriol was back and sitting with us, smiling benignly as I was tortured with a pair of chopsticks.

"Where were you yesterday lunchtime?" I spit out, clawing to the idea before it can slip out of my mind again.

"Me? I was staying in the classroom to read. I had reached a crucial chapter in a book that I was just about finished, and had to read it."

"Ah."

Fishy, very fishy, but I'm not entirely sure what about it is. I've never had anything to accuse him of before. Plus, no one can deny that Eriol sure as hell loves to read. It's acceptable. And very good luck.

"Kyo-san, do you need me to help you with anything? Do you want copies of my notes? Or is Yuki doing that?"

"Yes," I sigh, "Overprotective Man is getting notes for me as well."

"Overprotective Man?"

"Yuki's been… clingy lately."

"He's concerned about you." Eriol informs me knowledgeably. 

"That's all very well and good, but does he have to hang around like a bad smell?"

"Is he in the room now?"

"Not right now, but only because he and Shimo are entertaining Haru."

"That's good, if he's still keeping up appearances with family and friends,"

"He literally has to be there." I deadpan, "Yuki's playing chaperone."

"So, are you sure there isn't anything that you want me to help you with?"

How about a storage system, like the one on Pokemon? Get an Elemental, the Elemental is sent elsewhere. Gotta catch em' all. Gotta get them the hell outta my system before I lose my marbles.

I realise that there's been a few moments silence, and I cover it up with "Nah, not really. Thanks for asking, though."

"No problem. Well then, I'll leave you to your recuperation, ne? See you at school."

"Yeah. Later."

The phone drops onto the bed next to me, and I try to find a comfortable position for sleep. Sadly enough, there's only one position I can sleep in.

"Kyo…"

I groan, then try to sink back down into sleep.

"Kyo. Wake up."

I open my blurry eyes to Yuki's stern face. 

"A nice, 'calm' activity, huh?"

He's holding up the phone. 

"Yuki, your idea of a calm activity is watching paint dry." I yawn, resisting the urge to wipe my hands over my face. "And that's only if I'm lying down as well." I add. "Tohru brought the phone up, so I talked to Eriol for about five minutes before sleeping. I've had less rest in comas."

"The doctor told you, not strenuous activities. Rest is what's best for you."

Did he listen to anything that I just said? Well, I've got to say his resolve in commendable.

"I've had enough rest! Screw rest! Rest may go throw itself off a cliff, for all I care!"

"Yes, Kyo."

Yuki helps me into a sitting position, then joins me on my bed.

"You're not making it easy, you know." He sighs, resting for a moment to gather up enough determination to try and deal with me again, "You're bloody impossible. Come on, dinner's now."

"Great, but you're not feeding me!"

"Would you prefer Shigure to?"

"Yuki, I've decided that you can feed me tonight."

"I thought you might say that."

"You suck you know that?"

"I try."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't. If you want anything to happen before the end of time between us, you might like to try being nicer."

"Just remember, your neck isn't injured."

I flush at the look on Yuki's face, then point at the door. "Dinner, now. Go."

Yuki opens the door and steps out into the hallway. 

"So, how was Haru today?" I ask slyly. I know that while Yuki is willing to go along with the arrangement for Shimo's sake, he's still not quite comfortable with the idea of a being in his body forming relationships and encouraging people that he's been trying to beat off him for the last few years.

Yuki shrugs, a concerned look on his face. "Shimo completely blocked me. He was… Shimo, though. You know, Shimo-form… I hope."

I smirk. "Maybe Haru likes his earrings too. You know how he has that jewellery fetish… I'm sure they're getting on fiiiine."

Yuki walks ahead, a little faster, trying to hide the look on his face from me. Unable to stop my own smirk, I speed up as well.

"What's wrong, nezumi-chan?" I call in sugary voice as Yuki starts to take the stairs two at a time. He sweeps into the dining room ahead of me, and settles down at the table. By the time that I've sat down gingerly next to him, his face is once more composed.

I sit with my hands in my lap, not there's anything else that I can do with them right now, and dutifully open my mouth as Yuki variates between feeding himself and me, while I still add my usual mix of rude comments and death threats to the usual conversation that floats between the four of us.

As we prepare to leave the table, Shigure calls out to get my attention. "Oh yes, Kyo-kun! I forgot to tell you that Hatori called!"  
I raise an eyebrow. "Did he just?"

"Yes. He says for you to stay home from school tomorrow."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because he's coming to talk to you, and he wants it to be private. Personal. Kyo and Hatori all alooooooooone…"

The rest of the world fades into insignificance with Shigure's last singsong statement.

The only word that occurs to me is 'shit'.

Once again, not too much development. I'm leading up to stuff, but I promise things will happen next chapter. M'kay?


	22. Twentyone

Here we go, yet another chapter an' stuff. Minna, dun' worry, I have plans, so no one's cheating on anyone or anything like that. It's all just coming together in my head. 

When Yuki and Tohru leave for school the next morning, the feeling in the air is of a funeral procession. Yuki and I are caught between dismayed and scared witless, and Tohru has picked up our mood, and is sympathetically dour. 

I'm given last minute instructions from Shimo, basically along the lines of 'don't panic', and Shigure merrily waves goodbye and he leaves for the day, probably on the request of our serious family doctor.

The house is empty, and the day is grey and depressing. Left to my own devices, I wander around the house, poking my head into each room more for the purpose of keeping myself from going insane than curiosity, then wander out onto the back deck to slump on the edge, my sock-covered feet dangling just above the ground, and jumper I'm wearing not quite keeping out the cold.

Usually, being left alone like this would be a wonderful opportunity to train, relax, and drink milk out of the carton without any fear of repercussion. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and one part of my brain complains that I'm wasting it. The rest of my brain tells it to shut the hell up, and I'm left where I started; cold, bored and anxious. 

It occurs to me that Hatori could be coming anytime from now till about an hour before school ends, because he never actually specified a time. I suppose he has to fit me in somewhere in his busy schedule, and I'm probably not first. So there's nothing to do. And I don't want to spend my time moping. I must find something to do. 

I glance down at the deck, then gingerly place one of my bandaged hands against the wood. After a few seconds I remove it. Okay. So I'm not going to be playing handball any time soon. But I think I can handle a remote. I slump back into the house and slouch onto the couch, picking up the remote to flick on the television opposite. I stop on a soap-opera and amuse myself with the resounding lack of talent on the show for about an hour before I realise that it's some sort of marathon. Whoo. Something to do.

I slouch into the kitchen and prepare myself a bowl of instant ramen for lunch, finding myself relaxing, and enjoying the chance to just be a slob.

There's a knock on the front door, and I'm suddenly flipping-out again, and practically spill my ramen on my lap in my haste to get up and get the door. Tugging at the sleeves of my oversized jumper, which already cover a good deal of my hand, I open the door, and glare suspiciously out at Hatori, who gazes at me with a good deal of apathy. 

"You're late."

"I never said when I was coming."

My glare hardens, and I step aside to let my older cousin into the house. Hatori seems to be taking his sweet time removing his outer clothing, before he finally steps up into the hallway, and taking command of the situation, motions me into the sitting room.

We sit down on the couch next to each other, and I move my cooling meal onto the coffee table.

"Well? Why're ya here?"

"Firstly, I wanted to see how you were healing."

He motions me up, and I grudgingly help him remove my jumper and shirt.

Hatori peels back the bandages all over my back, and runs his fingers lightly over my burnt skin.

"Kyo-kun, how did you do this?"

I peer over my shoulder at the one of Hatori's eyes that I can see. "I got caught in the fire that levelled the auditorium at my school."

"So you keep telling everyone. But Kyo-kun, what were you doing in the auditorium in the first place? You don't act, and you have no interest in the stage."

My mind races through various possibilities... "Well, I, erm…" and comes up blank.

"I see."

The doctor moves around to my front, and starts to unwrap my arms one at a time, with the care that only someone who know hat he's doing can muster. I give an appalled look at my red and crusting hands. That's so weak. I wish I'd just hurry up and heal.

"You're progressing well. These should be off in a week, maybe, and I'm giving you permission to sleep on your back at nights. Nothing too rough though, alright?"

My cousin gives me a piercing look, like I'm going to instantly celebrate this news when Yuki comes home by hoisting my legs over his shoulders. 

Hatori rummages through his bag for a moment, and pulls out a roll of clean and lighter binding. His re-dressing his intensely uncomfortable for me, because for the first time in days my skin had felt air and then it was gone again, and I slip my shirt on, loving my new-found permission to use my hands. Hatori motions for me to sit again, then turns to me.

"Kyo-kun. You've been getting hurt a lot lately, quite badly in fact… If Yuki's… if he's doing anything to you… If there's anything you need help with, you only need to ask."

I blink slowly, all thoughts that Hatori might actually be very perceptive flying out the window. Then I keel over laughing.

"Hatori, what's happening is nothing that you can help with. There's nothing you can do."

"You're not the first one to be in an abusive relationship, I want you to know that. Something can always be done. I can help."

"Look, Yuki would never do anything like this to me. It's not him."

Hatori's frown deepens. "Are you saying that you're doing all this to yourself?"

I suddenly realise that I'm standing at a crossroads. I can lie and save myself from further interrogation, or I can refuse, and lead Hatori down the path to suspicion, and he'll keep looking for answers. It's a little mean, but it's easier to go with option one.

I look away, staring at the TV and keep my jaw tense, sticking out the muscles there to make myself look uptight.

"Kyo-kun, I don't know why you think you need to do this… But please stop."

Maybe I should be an actor. I turn back to the man sitting opposite me, thinking about the time that the bird that I had owned in the mountains died. "I can't stop! I deserve this!"

Downpour leaks a few drops out from the corners of my eyes for effect, and I'm inwardly sniggering as Hatori's eyes fill with compassion, and he reaches out to hug me.

"I'm worthless…" I whisper chokingly over his shoulder as his hands rub carefully up and down my back.

"No you're not. You mean a lot to us, even if we don't show it. When you hurt yourself, you're hurting your family as well."

I sob brokenly. "I'm sorry… I just… I… I can't help it… please… please go… I'll be okay, but I n-need to think…"

I pull back from his embrace and sniffle into my sleeve, watching over the top of my arm as Hatori stands reluctantly.

"Kyo-kun, remember that there's always a way someone can help."

I nod a little, keeping up the small sounds of crying until I hear the front door open again then give Hatori the finger as I watch him though my vantage point facing the window give the house a deep look, and slide behind the wheel of his car.

God I'm good.

That should keep him off our trail for a while. Heh. And the Oscar for best actor goes to… Kyo Sohma for his wonderful portrayal of a broken man to fend off his nosy family! Thank you, thank you very much. I'd like to thank myself. No one else deserves a lick of credit… hm, maybe my cousin Hatori, for falling for it.

I look at it in a rather optimistic light. Hatori knows, the rest of the family will soon. That should keep some people at a distance, and it might make some people think that the fact that I _am_ going insane is the reason for the way I've been acting lately. The only problem I can see is what Shimo's going to say when he finds out. I'm hoping for 'Wow, good job!' but I'll probably get 'What the hell were you thinking? I'm starting to think that you are insane!'

We'll wait to see when the rest of the house returns. 

In the meanwhile, I pick up my half-finished lunch and shove it in the microwave to reheat. With that over and done with, the rest of the day is mine.

"Kyo, we're home!" Yuki calls out as the front door opens again. I call out my reply from where I still sit in front of the box. The ramen container sits discarded in front of me, next to a half-empty glass of milk. What a nutritious meal.

"How was it?"

I shrug, my eyes still glued to the scene of Ryoko waking up from her two-year coma to discover that her evil twin-sister has stolen her husband. "You know…" I wave a hand distractedly at Yuki's enquiry.

"No, I don't." Yuki strides around to next to me, and flicks off the television. I frown.

"I was watching that, you ass-hole!"

"And that's what has me worried. Come on, let's got upstairs, and you can tell me exactly what went down."

"Sir, yes sir."

I stand up, and slouch up the stairs after my cousin, who dumps his book bag while I make myself comfortable on his bed, and try not to smile like a fool because it smells like him.

"So?" Yuki asks as he unbuttons his school blazer.

"Hatori appeared around twelve. He inspected me, and has deemed that I can use my hands, and lie on my back now."

The only difference in the changing-boy's demeanour in front of me is a slight smirk cast across his features. He's planning something already, the bastard.

"Not that I'll be lying on my back for you any time soon, but then… he asked me why I kept getting hurt lately."

Yuki gives me an inquiring look as I start to snigger. "What?"

"Here's the priceless bit, they think I'm in an abusive relationship…"

There's a blank, uncomprehending look on my cousins face.

"…With you…"

"What?"

"Precisely! Hatori thinks your into SM or something."

"That's… a good idea. Kidding. So what did you say? Did you tell him that it was wrong?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, your reputation's safe. I led him down the garden path another way."

"What did you tell him?" Yuki asks as he sits down next to me, placing a hand carefully on my back.  
I shrug my shoulders slightly, trying to ignore that it feels good to have him rub my back again. "Hatori jumped to conclusions again, and so now he thinks I'm doing this to myself."

"Hmm. And here I was, all this time, thinking he was smart."

"Yeah, I know, how weird, huh?"

"I was commenting to Shimo about you."

"Oi!"

"Kyo. You just told our family doctor that you're suffering from depression. They say that you're supposed to go insane, which I usually don't believe, but right now, I'm inclined to agree."

"If I didn't say something, he would have kept on pressing. He basically booked out the entire day in case he had to, I don't doubt that if I didn't agree to one of his shitty theories, I'd still be down there, and Hatori would still be pressuring me for information!"

"I'm sure you're right… I think I would have preferred the blaming me option though…" Yuki runs a hand through my hair, combing it with his fingers. "All we're really doing is strengthening Akito's case against you."

I roll onto my back and away from Yuki's petting, then pull him by the collar of his school shirt towards me until our faces are inches apart, and I can stare him straight in the eye. "I'll leave if I have to. You don't have to come with me, but I'll leave if I have to."

Yuki closes the distance between us, and after a few seconds, pulls back. "You're not going anywhere without me. Besides," the grey-haired boy's lips curl slightly, "Shimo wouldn't allow it."

I watch, intoxicated, as Yuki's lavender eyes drift between looking into my own yes, and staring at my lips. "Damn… clingy… bastards…"

"Mmm."

We lie there for a while, Yuki with one hand on my knee and the other holding himself up, and myself with my arms locked firmly around his neck. Where would anyone be without the clingy ones?

See? They're still being snugly. It was just hard to get anything in there when Kyo was imitating a mummy. I reallt think I rushed the bandage-removing already, because I need to get on with things. Sorry if it seemed a little abrupt. I don't know much about burns.


	23. Twentytwo

This chapter is leading up to getting to somewhere, if that makes sense anywhere but in my head. I'm also very proud of myself, because I pulled out my copy of the Clow book, and then put the cards in approximate order that they're going to, or already have, appeared to Kyo. Before, I had kinda been winging it… Either way, chapter!

"Kyo?"

I turn from my place near the door and give Yuki a stern look. "Go back to sleep."

Yuki sits up, looking a little sleep-dazed. He'd been very reluctant to give up the extra warmth provided by my body this morning, subsequently waking him up even when I was trying not to.

I accidentally slept in Yuki's bed last night. I didn't mean to, but I fell asleep, missed dinner, and only woke now. That was uncomfortable on so many levels. Yuki was sleeping on top of the sheets while I slept under them, but he was still spooned to my back like some sort of limpet. The first thing I thought was 'mmm… warm…', followed shortly by: '%&%$#!?!' or something close to it. No coherent thoughts, as my brain went immediately on the fritz, and it took all my restraint not to just go medieval on my bed partner.

I weaselled myself out of Yuki's grip, and scampered across the floor of his room in a way that I thought was quiet, but evidently not quiet enough.

My cousin gives me a suspicious look from underneath mussed but still wonderful and fine ash-grey hair. The sort of hair that you can run though a bush then comb without any tangles. The sort of hair they make those annoying commercials about. The exact opposite to my temperamental hair type, which reminds me of sunset-coloured straw.

"Isn't it a bit early to be out of bed?"

I notice that he makes no mention of the sleeping arrangements for the night before, and my eyes narrow. "Don't worry yourself, it's only six. You've got at least three hours of solid sleep until you usually get up. Go to sleep."

He shakes his head stubbornly. "Come here first."

"No. I want to go for a run."

Yuki gives the sigh of a mother with a child that's being stubborn. "Come here."

While the mouse may have eternal patience, mine is fading quickly. "Go back to sleep!"

"Not until you come here."

I sigh, and stomp back over to the bed. "What?!"

I pair of strong arms wind around my waist, and I'm suddenly pulled back into the bed with an indignant cry. The sheets flop back over us, and Yuki is attached once more to my back.

"There. Isn't this nice?"

"Yes. It's fucking peachy. Let go now!"

This only seems to make the arms around me tighten. Yuki nuzzles the side of my neck. "You know, some find it quite wonderful to be able to sleep in,"

I wrinkle my nose slightly, even though I know Yuki can't see it. "Staying in bed when I'm awake's too lazy. I prefer to be active."

"You know," Yuki presses himself flush against me and I feel heat rising in my cheeks, "there are plenty of ways to be active without leaving this room,"

I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. "Pervert!"

"Mm." Yuki responds by pressing his warm, soft lips against my shoulder blade.

My body relaxes against him without meaning to, and I mentally berate myself for being so susceptible to Yuki's charms. Bad teenage hormones. Bad… nghh…

Tongue usage should be illegal.

My neck arches even as I reach my arms up over my head to bat at the top of Yuki's head, finally landing a glancing blow that makes Yuki stop teasing.

"Quiddit! I swear, sometimes you're worse than that annoying dog!"

The arms around me slacken, and I get a momentary feeling of triumph.

"Hey Kyo? Do you know Haru's number?"

I turn as far as I can, give Shimo a look like he's just grown a third head, then leap out of the bed. "Arrgh! Shimo! You… timing… BAD!"

This is the sort of thing I've come to dread. Shimo destroying a snugly moment to ask some sort of inane question about the person that _he_ happens to like, and is casually dating in _my_ boyfriend's body. It's times like this I wish for prozac and a padded cell.

"Well? Do you?"

I shake my head mutely, still giving him the thoroughly creeped-out look. "Check the phone book." I advise before dashing from the room before Yuki can come back and start threatening my chastity again.

I swiftly change into fresh clothing, dash some freezing water over my face, and scamper downstairs past our startled housekeeper and over to where my shoes are. Now I really need to get out of the house.

I leap off the desk and head off at a steady jog. The morning air is cold and refreshing, breaking me out of my Yuki-induced stupor. Sometimes, that boy needs a good smacking. Bad distracting Yuki! Bad, hot distracting Yuki!

I groan even as I run up the driveway, rolling my eyes up to the bare branches overhead. It looks like it might rain, or snow even. Not good. I hate things that are cold and wet. I hit myself in the forehead with the heel of my palms and veer off the path slightly, trying to clear away the dirty thoughts again. Stupid teenage mind. Stupid libido.

Running should be the sort of wholesome activity that calms the body and the mind. So why isn't it working? The places where Yuki kissed me seem somehow colder than the rest of my exposed neck and head, which are sticking out from a puffy jacket and a scarf, which is just wrapped loosely around me. Not the best gear to run in as I'll probably be shedding most of it once I get properly warm, but for now I value keeping my various extremities un-frozen.

I bet Yuki _really_ hopes that I keep one particular extremity warm, my mind helpfully supplies, and I veer slightly off the driveway in the other direction. It must look like I'm running drunk. Damnit, exercise is supposed to keep these sorts of thoughts away!

'_Kyo, where are you going?_'

I frown at the sudden intrusion. '_Nowhere. I'm just going for a run. I'll be back… sometime._'

I can feel Shimo's irritation echoing down the link between us. '_Specific, love. Do you know where Tohru-san's put the address book?_'

I growl and cut the connection.

I just… really don't want to have to think about that right now.

One hand idly scratch at my beads, which are awkwardly wrapped under my bandages, then slaps at the various cool spots on my neck. Damn that boy to hell. Damn teenage hormones to hell as well. May Cerberus use them as chew toys.

I increase my pace past my normal distance-consuming jog and onto the boarders of running-for-no-particular-reason. Maybe I just need more exercise for me to get caught up in the sound of my feet against the gravel path and breath whooshing in and out of my lungs, like I usually do. But this morning…

It's just not damn well working. I can't get him out of my head. It's like trying to stop the tide. I have a sudden urge through the rising despair to veer off the track, over to one of the conveniently-placed tree trunks, brace myself with two hands and then beat my head against it until I'm not thinking anymore. So much for exercise.

I'm still not thinking straight when I round the corner and come to a complete and sudden halt.

No.

They're fucking with me again.

"…what?"

Hands behind her back and wearing her favourite dress, my mother smiles kindly at me, the way that I always wanted her to. It's the sort of smile that makes you feel instantly accepted and loved. She beckons me closer and I hesitate to move in either direction.

The familiar smell of her perfume drifts over me, tinged with something more metallic. I blink, and her face, for just an instant, doesn't look nearly as alive and accepting.

I take a step back, and my ankle jars as I step into a pothole. My knee buckles, and I fall backwards. White hot pain shoots up from my leg, and my head collides with something solid.

I'm running through a forest. My breath burns in my lungs, and the mutual grip on each other's hands is a comfort to us both. Akito's face, Akito's room, myself sitting placidly while he rants and paces. A look on his face that would normally drive me to my knees. There's nothing he can do now. The only person that controls my life now is me. I gasp, heat dissolving all my barriers of restraint. He's in me, he's around me. A familiar but different face, framed by firey hair the same shade as my own kneels over me, yelling for me to wake up as I stare uncomprehendingly at the cloudy sky. Eriol nods approvingly, his robes incandescent in the moonlight. He lifts his staff, the combined sun and moon painted a paler shade of gold than usual.

I open my eyes.

"What the fuck?"

"I could say the same thing."

Yuki moves from where he's been hovering over my to the doorway of my room. "He's awake,"

"Huh?"

My cousin turns and gives me a withering look. "You tripped over a pothole, hit your head on a rock, and impaled your lower leg on a stick."

"What?"

Images flash through my mind, and my new injuries to add to an already long list suddenly become unimportant. "My mother was there."

Yuki instantly starts to shut the door on Shigure as he starts to enter.

"Naw, Yuuuuki! You said he was awake!"

"I didn't say you could come in."

"You're so meeeee-"

The end of our guardian's whine is cut off to a muffle by the door sliding into place.

Yuki turns and walks back over to perch on the bed next to me, and put a hand to my forehead. "Hmm. You don't feel feverish."

"Oi!" I bat away his hand, "I know what I saw, okay?"

"I don't even want to think of the implications of that."

"Look, the 'I see dead people' thing is really over-done, but… She was there. I ran around the corner, and she was standing there in all her undead glory."

"Did you feel anything before you saw her?"

I shake my head as much as I can while propped up on about three pillows. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Why not?" Yuki presses, sounding exasperated.

"I was," I poke him harshly in the chest, "Otherwise occupied."

"While that's good to know, you should have still been paying attention."

"Great, so I'm allowed to think about you, but not while living my day-to-day life when an Elemental might pop out of the ether at any moment?"

"Precisely."

"So you're saying it's alright to think about you… never?"

"Oh, there are a few occasions when it's alright."

I don't like _those_ implications either.

"She was there."

"What was she doing?"

"She was smiling like she loved me."

I shift uncomfortably. I don't want to discuss this. "It was the sorta look that I never got while she was actually around. She'd always say things but… I'd get the impression that my mother was trying to convince herself, not me."

"That's in the past now. You've got a true family now."

A very lame and naive statement, but still comforting nonetheless.

"I guess, but sometimes it hurts and I just wanna…"

"Ahem."

"Hello Hatori," Yuki stands up and smooths off his pants, "I was just going to fetch you."

The doctor casts a suspicious look over the two of us. "I'm sure you were. I'd like to speak to Kyo alone, thankyou."

Yuki nods and quietly leaves the room.

Hatori pulls my desk chair over to beside my bed, sits down, and then takes one of my hands in his.

"Was this an accident?"

I look away. "Yes."

"Are you sure about that?"

"You think I deliberately stepped into the pothole?"

"It looks like it."

"What?"

"You were running in one direction, but if you had tripped while running, you would have fallen over in the opposite direction to the way you ended up. It looks like you stepped back into it."

"I did."

"Why?"

"I didn't mean to, I-"

"Was jogging backwards?"

Actually, I saw the ghost of my dead mother and freaked out. The silence hangs on for a moment more, then I turn my eyes to the one of my cousin's that I can see and force a smile. "You're too smart for me, huh?"

Hatori frowns. "This is nothing to joke about. It's good that you're talking with Yuki, but this needs to stop."

"I try, but…"

With a sigh, I look away again.

"I expect not to hear about you getting hurt again for quite some time."

"Sir yes sir." I think this is going to be one of the occasions where the saying 'what you don't know cant hurt you' will come into swift effect.

"Kyo…"

"I know, take it seriously."

"Take it easy as well. Have some time off school if you think you need it."  
I nod, then focus my vision out the window. Not looking at my cousin makes it easier to keep up the façade of melancholy.

The door slides shut behind him, and I'm alone once more. Now onto other matters that can't be explained rationally. That dream.

I've had weird dreams before, but that has to count right up there with strange things. First, I see a person that can't be there, then I see flashes of things that I don't remember. Why on earth would Eriol be in robes? Why was I running through the forest? Why wasn't I cowering at Akito's feet? Who was that man? Did I just have a flash of having sex?

All I can say is that was fuckin' weird.

I just… needed to end it on that note. It was just… Ah well.


	24. Twentythree

Hello minna! Just a quick note, angst ahoy. I didn't mean for there to really be any significant breakdown, but I guess with the unresolved mother-angst still hanging around, 'twas inevitable. Enjoy no da.

I roll over in the night, and I can vaguely feel my lower left leg complain as pressure is put on it. I don't know how long this new injury is going to take to heal; when I tripped, the stick was driven quite deep into my leg. Hatori left a pair of crutches for me, so I'm guessing that I'm not supposed to be putting much weight on my leg for a while.

It's a problem, because I need to know.

I need to know why I saw her.

I need to know how to make her go away.

I slip my feet onto the floor, and hobble over to my desk.

_11.57 PM_

_I hope Yuki forgives me for having to go. If he checks my room while I'm not there, he'll come after me, and everything'll be screwed. I need to get back to where I saw her. Heh, I can't even say who she is, who she was. The word 'mother' is a term I don't want to use. She… I need to know._

_Damnit, my beads are really itchy. I think I have some sort of rash because my skin can't really breathe, but I know that I shouldn't scratch them. Anyway, they're under the bandages. I can't keep procrastinating. I have to go._

All I do is sling on a coat over my pyjamas before going downstairs and putting on my shoes.

The night air wraps around me and greets me like an old friend as I limp, one leg bent to keep it off the ground and keeping my weight on my crutches, off and start to retrace the steps of the morning before.

I know I must look so odd, with my pin-stripe flannel clothing, huge puffy coat over it and crutches. I must look like I really have gone loopy, or like an escapee from a mental institution. But I need to do this, and now is the opportune moment. No one knows, so no one can stop me. A small piece of my mind berates me, saying that if no one knows, no one can know where to find my corpse, but I push it aside. Now is not the time for logic. Logic would only cause me more aggravation, and besides, I feel that this is something that I have to do alone. She's my mother.

There. I said it.

It's hard to balance most of my weight on two metal rods on uneven ground, and it's even harder to keep up a steady pace. Uphill is torture, and downhill sets my teeth on edge, because I feel that at any second I'm going to topple ass-over-ears and roll my way to the foot of the hill. The path becomes familiar as my eyes adjust to the darkness, and I can make out the usual potholes that I have to avoid. I don't particularly want to spear my leg again. Once in a week is good enough for that.

My breath mists in front of me, and my body starts to almost tingle. I feel like I'm about to go into battle. It's that old feeling that I used to get whenever Yuki glared at me stonily as I yelled at him, knowing that soon one of us would throw the first punch. Adrenaline keeping me on my toes.

I've resigned myself to this, and I don't think I can go back any more.

The corner that I had turned around seems to come too soon, and I pause, my underarms starting to ache because of the badly-padded support shoved under them. I take a deep breath, and limp around the corner.

The path ahead of me stretches on like it always has, a strip of gunmetal-grey surrounded by black trees and black sky.

Nothing but silence. No crickets, no light, no mother. I let out a breath I hadn't realise that I had been holding, and start moving forward again, taking my time to pick out the edges of decaying leaves etched in the shadows on the ground. The night is beautiful, really, and I find myself calming down and paying attention to it.

I guess it was just my imagination. It has a tendency to conjure things that I don't want to see. I stop and stare down at the place where I tripped, still seeing my own tread marks in the dirt. I absentmindedly scuff them out. Slowly, the world comes back to me, and I start to even feel a little foolish. I don't know why I even came.

A breeze sweeps down the path and rattles empty tree branches against each other.

_'Kyo?'_

I scramble around, instantly alert. "Who's there?" I call uncertainly, not wanting to accidentally freak-out and pull the smack down onto Tohru or something. Well, as much smack down as I can muster.

'Kyo, I'm so happy to see you.'

I whirl around again, trying to catch a glimpse of where the voice is coming from.

Ghost fingers whisper over my face, caressing, then lifts my sleeve up like my mother used to do so often. All I can do is stand, paralysed.

"Go away."

A figure starts to form out of the shadows in front of me.

'Kyo, I love you.'

"No you don't, you hate me. Go away." I clutch my hands to my head, oblivious of my crutches falling away from me. My calf pangs, and something warm starts to dribble down the back of my leg again.

'I love you.'

My legs give way again, and I stare at the ground, my hands sinking and wrapping around my hair.

"No you don't! You've always hated me, because I'm the cat! No one can love the cat."

Something deep inside me knows that I'm regressing back past the day that Tohru saw the cat's true form and back into the pit of self-hatred that I used to live in, but I can't stop it now. My head sinks forward until it's inches from the ground.

"Kyo?"

"Go away!"

Yuki kneels in front of me, concern written across his features.

"What's wrong?"

'I will always love you.'

I look up past the ash-grey hair of my cousin into the glowing face of the woman who raised me.

"Leave me alone!"

"Kyo, listen to me," Yuki commands, wrapping his arms around me as a thrash against him, "She's not there."

"Yes she is! She's there, and she hates me! I killed her, so she hates me!"

"Kyo, listen. I love you."

_'I love you.'_ My mother echoes.

"I'm here for you."

'I love you.'

"We'll get through this together."

'I love you.'

"I need you."

'I love you.'

I shove Yuki away with strength that only comes from desperation, and half scramble, half run into the undergrowth at the side of the path.

"Kyo!"

Why is it I always try to solve my problems by running? I know that I'll have to face her eventually, either when I stop running or when I can't run any more, because she's everywhere I look.

'I love you, Kyo.'

My legs give way, and I collapse onto my hands and knees. "Fuck off." I mutter.

'I'll love you forever.'

"You're dead, I killed you. I saw you buried. Why won't you go?"  
_'I love you.'_

"You can't be here."

'I love you.'

"You're a figment of my imagination."

'I love you.'

"YOU'RE NOT REAL! YOU'RE JUST A MIRAGE!"

The forest is suddenly silent again, and I cautiously lift my head up in time to see the body of my mother explode into shards of light. They enter into my chest like slithers of insubstantial ice, and I curl into a protective ball, suddenly feeling empty. The pit is gone, and I'm back where I am supposed to be. Confused.

It was just an Elemental. Mirage did it. My mother was never there.

The point that Mirage was trying to make rushes into my conscious as the new being starts to make itself at home. The reason behind the form that it took.

I can't commit, because the last person to tell me they loved me died. I run away, because I don't want to accept my problems. I let the past control my actions. I hold myself back without knowing or meaning to.

I roll onto my back and stare up through the silvery limbs of the trees at the night sky. Away from civilisation, without any lights, I can see the stars clearly.

I feel empty, but resolved. Emotionally drained, but like some weight has been lifted off me.

'_Yuki, come and find me please. I don't think I can walk._'

I don't cut off the connection, even though I know that Yuki can't reply, and am comforted by his consciousness running over mine like waves over sand. As he innately heads in my direction.

Yuki finds me within minutes that seem to pass like an eternity, and he pushes past a bush and pauses.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?"

"Are you alright?"

I nod my head on the frozen ground, and beckon with one hand that my cousin join me.

"Shimo says to tell you that you're a petty, insolent, sad excuse for a human being."

"Tell him that I'm glad he was concerned for my safety," I mutter wryly, one corner of my mouth twitching slightly.

"Are you going to lie there all night?"

"Did you mean what you said before?"

Silence stretches out through the night.

"Do you really love me?"

Yuki sits gingerly down next to me, pulling his nightrobe further around his thin frame. "That's a bit of a stupid question, don't you think?" he asks gruffly, "If I didn't, I wouldn't have been running around in the undergrowth after you at half-past-midnight on a school night."

I snort, and roll over to wrap my arms around his waist, and put my head in his lap. "Just asking."

There's a moment of nothing but the wind through the trees, before Yuki asks "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Should I be?"

Another pause.

"Baka. You made us worry."

"I needed to see. I had to go alone."

"I know."

I sit up, ignoring my complaining leg, and peel off my jacket. "Here. You're the one with the lung problems here. I only have mental ones."

Yuki shrugs on the jacket, which is a little too short for his arms, then pulls me into his lap gratefully.

"How did you know where I was?" I enquire, ferreting myself into a more comfortable position, my head under Yuki's chin and pulling his arms around my waist.

"Shimo, of course. He knows all and sees all."

"But not enough, if you ask me. He interrupted a perfectly good moment to ask me where he could find Haru's number! What is wrong with him!"

I feel Yuki's chest muscles ripple as he shrugs behind me. "Maybe he was feeling protective."

I raise an eyebrow. "Weird thought."

"Did you really have to lie down here? I think a stick's going up my ass."

"What?" I cry, feigning shock, "another one?!"

Yuki growls, and I turn my head to kiss where his neck and chin join placatingly.

"We're going to have to head back to the house soon," he says and I almost purr, enjoying the way I can feel his chest rumble as Yuki talks. "Quite alright there?" he asks, sounding amused.

"I don't wanna move."

"We'll have to sometime. It's getting late, or should I say, early."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Well?"

"What, now?"

"Now's as good as any time,"

I groan and sit up. "Fine, slave driver."

I shuffle off my cousin, and he stands up first, brushes some debris off his back, then holds out a hand for me. I grab his wrist, haul myself upright, then abruptly fall over again.

"Are you alright?"

"Not this time. Remember? My leg was bleeding."

"Oh, yeah."

"'Oh yeah?' I'm just bleeding half to death, but it's okay, so long as you can cop a feel! Honestly." I fume, then in my best impersonation of a stoned person, "Oh yeaaaaah…"

"Do you want me to help you or not?" Yuki quips, his eyebrows lowering a fraction.

"Try again." I command, holding out an arm again.

Yuki hauls me to my feet with more force than necessary, and grabs a handful of my ass as he attempts to keep me upright. "Oops." He says dryly, an evil smirk across his features.

"Try that again and I'll…"

"You'll what? Hop me to death, garrotte me with bandages?"

I sling an arm over the slightly taller boy's shoulders so I can lean on him, and point my other hand at him threateningly. "You watch your back."

"Yes, kitty-chan."

"Rrrr! You really do want to be beaten senseless, don't you?"

Yuki shrugs and I grunt, my arm being lifted a little too high to be comfortable.

Yuki sighs. "Now what?"

"Don't move. You practically dislocated my shoulder!"

Yuki starts moving back the way we came with me hoping next to him. "Not my fault you're short."

"You really _do_ want to be hurt! Bastard rat!"

"Stupid cat."

"Just you wait until I have all my facilities back in working order! Then you'll know pain!"

"Keep doing stupid things, and Hatori might just keep you wrapped in cotton for the rest of time, baka. Just hope that your leg isn't so bad that we'll need to call in for a doctor."

… He has a point.

"Just get me home."

Ooh, angst-bunnies alert! Sorry if that was a bit wiggy to anyone else, but my friend just lent me the last two episodes of Fruits Basket (even though they're still in Japanese with Chinese subtitles --;) and with my increasing knowledge of Japanese, I did manage to understand some of it! Oh yeah, I feel proud. Ahem. Either way, let me just say…. No. In case people haven't noticed, the dream card, or equivalent thereof, is messing with Kyo's head. Eriol hasn't made his move yet, but he will soon. And no, Shimo and Haru is the pairing that I'm determined to have. Shimo's human form (he gets one of those soon as well) is also featured in the dream-section. I have shit planned for those two, and although I realise that Shimo having a crush on Kyo would indeed be cuteness personified, and I have indeed considered this pairing myself, I found that the Haru pairing will be more fun to work with in the long-run (plus, I realised it would be like having a crush on your brother). Besides, we can't have everyone lusting after our poor Kyo-kitty, now can we?


	25. Twentyfour

Let me just say now that I am eternally sorry for taking to damn long with this God-accursed chapter. First, there was an entire wekk of non-stop work, then when the holidays rolled around, I instantly left for a week with my friends in a batch by the sea that didn't even have a telephone, let alone a computer, then when I finally got home, there were about two days at home then I had to leave for a week-long family thing. Then I got home Sunday, and had a writing block. I basically wrote this entire bloody thing in one day, after some slow-coming inspiration while lying in bed at nine-o-clock in the morning. Either wa,y here it is, a new chapter. Whoopee. I hope I'm the only one who wants to bang their head against a wall after reading te way I write Kyo's father.

_2.32 PM_

_Itchy itchy itchy! Motherfucker!_

_I woke up this morning all ready to take advantage of the dragon's offer for time off school to find my wrist trying to kill me! It burns, it itches, and it fucking trapped under my god-accursed bandages, so there's little I can do about it. That's the most infuriating thing about being wrapped up like a half-finished mummy, scratching irritating spots with wrapped fingers on a wrapped arm is nowhere near satisfying. It's muted, and it creates more friction, which burns._

_Then there's the bloody problem that the beads are in the way. I've never loved that bracelet even at the best of times, but right now they seem about ten times larger than they physically are, and because of the bandages stopping me from moving them more than about two millimetres either way, I have taken to calling them the Great Immovable Lump. Why the hell does it have to itch right under them?_

_I hate itches. They always appear at the worst times, like when you've just picked up three cartons filled with heavy items, or when you're watching a documentary or movie about spiders. They're all in the mind. I have to keep telling myself that. Itches are in the mind…. And wrist… Aw, fuck it!_

Stuffing my crutches violently under my arms, I do my best to stalk out of my bedroom, which ends in me over balancing, and sliding with a yowl into the door opposite. There's a distinct thump then a clatter as my arse then crutches hit the ground.

"KYO! KILL YOURSELF WITHOUT DAMAGING THE HOUSE, PLEASE!"

I snarl at the pointed comment about me trying to off myself (of which there are many now, as just as I predicted, if one family member knows something, everyone else will in about three seconds flat), and crawl around on the floor until I manage to collect both my crutches, and lever myself upright with the help of a bit of wall-clinging.

Of all the people who are known to blather about things that most people shouldn't in polite company, I just have to be living with the worst. I haven't been able to escape the various remarks about hanging, and knives, and toasters with bathes, and anything else that Shigure's twisted mind can come up with. God damn, he's an annoying one.

I clamber downstairs as best I can, and head for the kitchen. I need some sort of poking implement, something that can get through the bandages but won't cut me as well.

I pause on the bottom step, and listen for dog-related noises. I don't particularly need him leering at me right now, I think I might snap and beat him to death with a crutch.

That thought entertains me quite well as I hobble through the house, and I walk into the kitchen with a smirk on my face.

As I root through the cutlery draw, I hear the gravel in the driveway crunch under tire wheels, and assume that it's Ayame to see Shigure or something. Someone would have told me if it was Hatori again, or yet another great-aunt twice removed that's finally come to see her 'dearest Kyo in his hour of need', which basically means yet another family member that I've never heard of and will never again come to stare at the infamous freak of the family. The cat, _and_ a suicidal maniac.

Finally finding what I wanted, a fork, I shuffle on one crutch over to the kitchen table, lay my write down palm up, and raise the fork.

The kitchen door slams open.

"KYO!"

I don't even manage to draw in a breath to make a pathetic noise as Kazuma, my father, storms into the room, and hits me close-fisted across the face.

I land, sprawled against a wall, with the fork about three feet to my left.

The look on my surrogate father's face is one of the scariest things that I have seen in quite some time. I have seen very many people angry in my time, but not very often have I seen such a mixture of fury, outrage and hurt on one face.

"I was…"

"When Shigure first told me what had been happening, I didn't want to believe him! I thought you were smarter than this, stronger than this!"

"I wasn't…"

"I don't know what's gotten into you, first you change you mind _completely_ about your supposed mortal enemy, now I hear that you're trying to kill yourself?!"

"If I was trying to kill myself, I'd already be dead!"

I manage to regain my footing in the shocked silence, heavily favouring one leg, my crutches abandoned to one side.

"It's an occupational hazard! I thought that you, of all people would know me well enough to know that I would never hurt myself voluntarily, _father_."

"I tried to believe that, but seeing you with a _fork_ hovering above your wrist doesn't help your credibility!"

"Another thing that you haven't given me the time of day to explain!"

I dash out a hand angrily, and out of force of habit, my crutches fliy to me to nestle in my armpits. Kazuma's eyes widen, and he sharply draws in breath.

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshit…

I about-face, and hobble out of the room as fast as my legs will take me, practically colliding with Shigure. The bastard's been listening at the door.

Shitshitshitshitshit…

"Kyo, what did you do?" my father demands from the bottom of the stairs as I limp up them, crutches first on the next step, then good leg, then finally towing my injured limb, making for slow climbing.

"Go home!"

"Kyo!"

I scuttle into my room, close the door, then lean on it in an attempt to keep it closed.

"Answer me!"

I growl as the door starts to prize open, and push back.

"Go home, and leave me to it!"

"Not until you tell me what's happening!"

"Bah!"

Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a screen door closed? Western doors can have chairs inserted conveniently under doorknobs, but sliding doors are different altogether. I'm half-dreading that Kazuma will just give up on trying to open it, and put a hand through the rice paper. The way things are going, I wouldn't put it past him.

"Kyo, let me in!"

"What are you trying to do, father? Force an invalid to sit down? Hit me until I start talking sense?"

The pulling on my door stops, and with a heavy sigh, my door sags in slightly with new weight leant on it.

"What do you want me to do?"

I shrug, though I know he can't see it, and lean into the doorframe, the foot of my injured leg propped on the frame opposite me, about level with my crotch. "Trust me or go the hell home."

"You know that I want to be there for you."

"… Yeah."

He really tries to be a good father. He was my world when I was a kid, but now we've each made all sorts of changes. It's like trying to feel you a person you haven't seen for ten years, not like a son talking to a father.

"Are you going to let me in so we can talk?"

I kill a rising groan. "You know I suck at that." Not to mention how uncomfortable it'll be.

"We have to try," Kazuma said patiently, "Or I'll never know what's really happening."

"You're gonna insist on this, aren't you."

"Shouldn't I?"

With a sigh that rivals the one that my father gave before, I step back, and away from the door.

"It's open."

I hobble over to my bed and sit down glumly as Kazuma slips into my room and closes the door after himself.

He takes a quick glance around the room, then his eyes focus on Yuki's sword, which is still collecting dust.

"That's not mine."

"Whose is it, then?"

"Yuki's."

"What is he, moving in?"

Hmmm, narky. Is it possible that father-dearest doesn't approve?

"No, I'm just minding it for him."

Kazuma takes a sep towards it curiously. "What are those designs on the sheath and hilt?"

"Erm, nothing… Don't touch it."

"Why not?"

Because it's a sword with a mind of it's own that might slice your nose off if it doesn't like you.

"Because it's not mine."

"And Yuki doesn't like you touching his stuff?"

I give my father an unimpressed look for the pointed question. "If we're going to talk, then talk."

The taller man pulls out my desk chair and drags it closer before sitting. "Why don't you start with what you were doing downstairs?"

"My beads are itching. I think it's just the healing skin, but it's bloody annoying. I was just going to scratch my wrist."

A raised eyebrow.

"What? If you're not gonna accept it, that's your problem." I mutter, absently grating my wrist against the side of my leg.

"I see. Well, then, if that was perfectly innocent, what has been happening lately to make even Hatori think that you're trying to…"

"Open a vein?"

Kazuma nods, a funny look on his face.

I shrug. "A whole bunch of flukes."

"Before you said it was an occupational hazard, now you say it's just flukes?"

There's silence while I try to find the best way to say what I need to: "…Yeah."

"So, which is it?"

"A little of both."

"What do you mean?"

"The injuries come from my occupation, and it's a fluke that they think I'm hurting myself."

"So no one knows about your occupation?"

"Only me, Yuki, Hatsuharu and Momiji."

"And you didn't think it for to tell your father?"

"It doesn't really concern my father."

Kazuma has the sense to ford off another potential argument by changing the topic completely. "So then, what is your occupation?"

"Well… I…" My sentence trails off into a strangled noise. Father gives me a penetrating look. "Yuki's home!" I cry when I feel a familiar presence enter the house, jumping to my feet as best I can.

"Sit down, Kyo."

Cowed, I retake my place on my bed.

"_Yuki, come and join my in my bedroom?"_

_"Why?"_

I frown mentally. _"Does a guy need a reason?"_

_"Well, it's just that your father's car is parked outside."_

Busted.

_"Fine. He's asking uncomfortable questions. Emotional support is a good thing."_

"He's not letting you change the subject, is he?" Yuki asks, amused as he comes up the stairs. "Shut your pie hole and come!" 

_"Yes, master."_

"Fall off a cliff and die, rat." I accidentally mutter out loud, interrupting one of Kazuma's long-winded speeches that I should have been listening to.

"What was that?"

"Nothin'. Keep going."

Another suspicious look.

My door slides open, and I stand up to welcome my cousin.

I limp over to Yuki and hug him as he start off with some small-talk, masking our true converstation.

"How are you?"

"Usual. How was school?"

_"When people designed the word 'bastard', they had you in mind."_

"Can't complain. Had another council meeting this lunchtime."

"I'm here, aren't I?" 

"Ahem."

"True. Remind me to be nice to you later, when I don't have my arse in a vat of boiling water."

I step away from my taller cousin, with his hand firmly wrapped around mine, facing my father, who gives us a look somewhere between confused and… angry?

It's been very strange today. Father has always been a very tranquil person, always had a smile, and very serious. Now he's flustered, confused, and angry at the drop of a hat. I really must have tied him up in knots, then.

"Kazuma, nice to see you again." Yuki says evenly, like he didn't think he had done anything wrong.

Kazuma inclines his head, polite by habit. "Yuki."

We sit a respectful distance from each other on my bed, our hands almost touching.

"I suppose you want to know where the fighting stopped and… other things started?"

Kazuma opens his mouth, but I keep going.

"A few months ago, I was forced to trust Yuki with something. Something big. He never even tried to betray my trust. We stopped trying to kill each other. We realised that we had more in common than we thought. Things went from there."

"You say you trust this boy?"

I nod without hesitation. "With my livelihood."

"And you, do you like my son?"

Another nod. "Very much."

"Would you commit yourself to him?"

"I already have."

Kazuma nods. "Well, I must say, Yuki has appeared to have a good influence on you."

"I have good friends."

"I can tell."

Father shifts, into a less guarded position. I relax. Yuki's passed his test. I reach my hand over and squeeze my cousin's, before dropping it and relaying my attention back to the man in my desk chair.

"Right. Kyo, you were explaining how you keep getting hurt?"

I was?

"Right. I'm getting hurt because… I… have to do things… which are…dangerous…"

"Why do you need to do these things?"

Because shit keeps happening to me? Because I'm the only person that I'm aware of that can?

"Uh… Yeah…" I trail off, and reach a hand over the scratch my wrist. "That's because…"

"I always knew you sucked at lying, but this is just painful."

"Shut your flip-top! I'm trying!" 

"He's doing it because he's the only one who can."

The being in Yuki's flesh squeezed my hand as a greeting, then kept his hand over mine. Enter the clued-in celestial being.

"But what is he doing?"

"That's classified. Didn't you have any secrets when you were younger? Our Kyo is just learning how to grow up. I can't do Kyo's job for him, but be aware that I'm with him every step of the way, and try to prevent injury when I can. We can't run the risk of anything that we do not intend to happen to occur, so we are trying to keep this as secret as possible, from people that we know might tell Akito. We don't want to have to hurt family members, so it's better that they just believe what they want to."

"In this case, it's that I'm hurting myself. SI is much easier to explain than an occupational hazard."

"I don't think I approve of this."

"It's not up to you to decide. It's my choice to keep this up. Trust me."

Kazuma shook his head incredulously, as if trying to deny that he couldn't do anything.

"I still don't understand why you two are so convinced that you are the only ones who can do… whatever it is you're doing."

"We don't know either. But trust us."

Kazuma shook his head again, and my rising impatience burst out of me.

"Trust us, or go away, father!"

My father smiles, that slow, gentle smile, for the first time this visit. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that."

"No you, shouldn't."

Patented Kyo Glare.

"If you two are so convinced that you can handle this, I guess I had better tell Shigure to stop hiding all the sharp objects again."

Kazuma stood up and left the room.

"Hey, Yuki, are we so convinced we can handle this?"

"Not that I know of."

"Good, so it's not just me."

I could have gone further, but I though this was a funny end. I still feel like introducing my head firmly to the wall.


	26. Twentyfive

Okay. First of all, oopsies in the biggest way. Sorry I took so damn long with this chapter, but I've been too busy to even seep right lately.

Aaaand, for the benefits of all the people who can't see this in the same way that I can (which basically means everyone), this first paragraph is a dream sequence. I would have made it easier to tell by putting it in italics, but for some unknown reason, the things like that which I actually put in seem to show up on a lucky-dip basis. And at the end, to be more user friendly, I've started putting 'Az' in before I blather. Enjoy.

Don't kill me.

We're running away from someone, some place, but I still see the white of Yuki's teeth blurred in front of me like a beacon as I weave through the trees. The person who looks like Shimo smiles in a weary, crooked sort of way, and hoists his bag onto his shoulder with a black-nailed hand, a piece of thick black leather wrapped around his wrist. His earrings catch in the sunlight. Our lips collide in a heated battle, one without restraint, caring of who might find us, the repercussions. There is just burning desire… A chair, one I can recall seeing before, somewhere. It's antique European, high-backed and covered in velvet. A boy, Eriol, sits in it like a man, though he does not quite fill it. He smiles, a slow, secretive smile, one that he only uses one special occasions. His staff, resting against his throne, still a head taller than himself and crested with a sun and moon, reflect the firelight and burn golden.

I open my eyes and stare at the ceiling, coming instantly back into my body. That was odd.

I close my eyes against the darkness in my room, and open them again to twilight.

I don't fear anything here, this is my domain, so it doesn't worry me much to hear the distant roar of my Elementals, or that I should drape my blanket over my shoulders as I get out of bed to protect myself against the cold, even though I know I must look nutty. There's no one here to notice or comment as such.

I open the door with my right hand, noting that the beads aren't there, but the skin is still rubbed raw, and that I no longer have any bandages on. I wander just a few paces down the grey corridor outside to Yuki's room, then into it and over to Shimo, who lies in the bed beyond like Yuki must be, and hair like a firey fan around his pale face.

I poke his shoulder.

Amber eyes open to regard me.

"I had a weird dream."

"Weird?" Shimo rolls slowly over to face me and props himself up on an elbow. He's still fully dressed under the blankets. It all looks a little surreal. His wings don't really fit, scraping against the wall at the other side of the bed softly with his movement.

"Realistic." I frown, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"So," Shimo starts gently, "You came in to tell me that you had a strange dream? What's really bothering you?"

Trust him to look past my feeble excuse. "It's the Elementals. We haven't seen one for ages, not since Mirage."

"And? What else?"

"Well," I hold up my wrist, "This is slightly concerning. It's been itchy for ages, and now it looks burnt."

"Well, you have been scratching it for ages."

"Yeah, but why aren't I burnt then? How come I can walk unassisted here?"

Frowning delicately, as only my guardian is capable of doing he takes my hand and runs his finger lightly over my wrist. "It could be connected to the bracelet. It's a powerful magical object, that one."

"Hrm." I take my wrist back, and poke at the raw skin myself, the nerves in the area all complaining as I do so. I guess I can still feel some degree of pain here, something I hadn't really noticed before. It could just be psychological, or something.

But I doubt that.

Something's malfunctioning, but I don't know if it's me, or it.

Shimo frowns at his hands, bunched in the sheets on his lap, and I keep running my fingers over my wrist, my mind running over anything and everything that might be behind my newest problem.

I head downstairs for breakfast the next morning, or specifically, head for the fridge the next morning. Tohru smiles and greets me as she stands at the stove and dishes some miso soup into a bowl for me, and I grunt and stick my head into the fridge, arm automatically heading for the well labelled bottle of milk in the door.

Aah, milk. The only thing that can truly wake me up this morning. I am seriously regretting both waking up this morning, and staying up so late. I wonder if Yuki has noticed that I filched a few hours sleep off him last night.

Okay. If he doesn't bring it up, then I won't. I hope Shimo hasn't. I don't think a cheesy smile will really make up for making Yuki fall asleep in class today.

"Ohayou, Sohma-san! Etou..."

There's a shuffle of feet behind me, and a heavy, round object lands on my shoulder.

Damnit. I knew it wasn't a good idea; he's sleep walking again.

Stepping around in a slow, deliberate circle, I try to face my cousin without him falling on his ass, or groping mine. I really wouldn't put it past him; hard to beat when awake, impossible to beat when asleep. Hard to throw off when awake, I shudder to think of the consequences when he's snoozing.

'_Benefit of the doubt is your friend, benefit of the doubt is your friend…_'

Somewhat awkwardly, a hand goes to his forehead to keep him upright, and I finish my circle before I remove my hand. The rat's head lands once more on me. Yuki sighs, almost inaudibly, and snuggles closer to my chest.

Blushing furiously, I stand there like some sort of pillar rooted in the middle of the kitchen.

"Um… Kyo-kun, is it okay? Do you want help?"

I shake my head slowly, a frown etched across my face as Kazuma enters the room.

He blinks then smiles somewhat wearily, and I nod as best I can without moving too much. I had never realised so many muscles were involved in such a simple activity as bending my neck.

I gingerly put a hand to Yuki's slim waist and walk him sideways with me in a mock-tango to the table, then sit down abruptly.

Yuki blinks like he's coming out of a coma, then glances around at his surroundings. Damn. Not the reaction I had hope for. I had hoped that he might just drop, and maybe hit his head on the table on the way down. Not that I'm wishing malicious things on my boyfriend or anything, of course not.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, you jerk, are you eating this morning, or do you just plan to float on to school?" I mutter sullenly, still a bit miffed at not catching Yuki dropping like a stone, and also a little embarrassed that my father had to walk in on my cousin snoozing on me. I stab my breakfast with my chopsticks like it personally offended me, but don't explode and throw my meal in Yuki's face when he ruffles my hair affectionately (like nothing ever happened, the bastard) then sits down next to me. I'll save that anger for later. No necking for a certain grey-haired table occupant today.

Breakfast and all comfortable conversation done for, I stand up from the table, collect my bag from where it sits by the entrance to the kitchen, and head for the front door to stand sullenly outside for a while.

Oh yeah. I'm in a good mood this morning. Watch out. Kyo feels like sulking. And he's feeling rational too. I'm stand out in the cold, and will be until Tohru and Yuki are ready. I forgot my scarf.

I decide to stare at the sky a little, picturing Tempest breaking through the clouds, bellowing, rather than clogging up my system.

A flock of birds, some of the few that are still around at this time of year fly overhead, dark silent shapes against a grey backdrop. How depressing. Does marvels for my mood.

Another bird glides into my view as I stand, hands jammed deep in my pockets and breath fogging out around me. Big and dark, it seems to get bigger as it gets closer.

Abruptly its trajectory changes and it plummets out of the sky like someone just shot it, it's wings loose at its sides, and speed increasing every second.

I watch in awe as it suddenly spreads its wings, pulling out of its nosedive to land on the roof of my house with an almighty crash.

Shigure screams something about not breaking the house, but I'm too shocked to scream anything snarky back as I gaze, mouth slightly open at the big, fucking bird on my roof, preening it's wings.

Somehow, no matter how often something as surreal as this happens in my life, I can't stop myself from turning into a statue for a few seconds. It's just a natural reaction: 'gape like you're a fish suspended a few inches above the pond'.

Something tells me, namely the big pull on my spirit, that this is my god-accursed handiwork again.

Az: That's right folks, next time, I'll stop buggering about and get on with the plot! Whoo an' stuff. Until the next post, whenever that may happen to be…


	27. Twentysix

This is a direct continuation from the last chapter. This one was comparatively quick to come out, now wasn't it? Isn't that great?

For all who didn't get it, at the start of last chapter, when Kyo was talking to Shimo, that was on the dreamscape. That's why the beads weren't there. This is his subconscious we're talking about. Oh, other bit of good news, with the help of a co-conspirator, I have the next little-while worked out. And it promises to be fun. Kyo torturing galore.

Enjoy.

Yuki runs out of the house, Shimo-sense obviously tingling.

"What in hell's name is that?" I ask him as he slides to a stop next to me and turns back to the house to gape in a very similar fashion to myself.

"It's a bird."

"Thanks for the update."

God Yuki's useful when he's out of it. I may as well keep a talking parrot around to state the obvious for me in times of trial.

"A big bird." My cousin adds helpfully.

I give Yuki a look that could melt glass, then blanch as my father comes hurrying out of the house a few seconds later.

"What's wrong, you two?"

Hobbling as fast as I can possibly go, I forcefully turn Kazuma round, and start pushing him back towards the door. "Nothing. A bit of a branch of a tree just feel on the roof, that's all. Yuki and I are going to go get it before it…" inspiration peters out, and I end lamely with "… causes any structural damage."

Kazuma shrugs me off without any sort of visible strain. Goddamnit, why am I so damn feeble?

"Kyo, is this what you, your cousin and I were discussing before?"

"Yes."

Kazuma frowns slightly. "I'm concerned. I want to see."

I turn for a second back to Yuki as I try to come up with the courage to say what I truly feel. "What's happening… with the branch?"

"Branch? Kyo, what are you, stupid? It's a great, whopping…"

"Branch, you asshole, and don't you forget it!"

Yuki stops staring at the roof to pay attention, spies my father, then mouths and understanding and somewhat bashful 'oh'. "The branch is, um… rattling about in the gutters…"

A piece of the guttering on the side of the roof takes that moment to dislodge and sag, practically hitting me in the head.

Glaring at the piping, I turn my attention back to my father, hands still wrapped around his forearms in a show of holding him in place. "See? Occupational hazard. Wha'did I tell ya? The world's out to get me."

"Yes, I can see. That." Kazuma quirks an eyebrow, "very active branch you have there."

I nod as seriously as I can manage. "It's something in the air, I think."

"Indeed."

There's another huge thump from above us, and several tiles slide off the side of the roof to shatter on the pavement.

"ah, Kyo, the… erm, branch is… ah… grooming itself under it's… twigs…"

"I'll be there in a second!" I snarl, annoyed as I finally find a chance to say what I need to.

Kazuma is looking more concerned than ever. "Kyo, let me help! It's obviously not debris, just let me assist you!"

"You can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because the less you know, the less you can tell Akito!"

There. I said it.

The little block that had slid in between my father and myself, and that little uncertainty about whether or not he's more loyal to his surrogate son, or the leader of his family. Eventually, I could understand why the 'bead incident' as I prefer to call it when I happen to talk about that certain day (which is to say, never, apart from in my head) had to happen, but it was still a shock to my system. A logical betrayal that was ultimately for the greater good, but still leaves a wound, that festers long after the date.

As soon as those damning words slipped out of my mouth, I whirled around, and ran to the side of the house and the ladder propped up against the roof.

I'm surprised it's still standing, though it's possible that someone bolted it on while I wasn't pay attention. An attempt to stop me being so anti social, meaning I couldn't pull it up or shove it away from the guttering, successfully stopping anyone from coming up. Come on, I only did it a few times. And only once when Yuki was trying to come up.

I scale the sturdy ladder as fast as I can, then slide onto the roof on my hands and knees, belly close to the ground like a slinking cat.

Obviously, the bird also makes this connection to a feline and disgruntled, the big red bird flaps its wings, a huge gust of wind blowing me off balance and onto the slippery-slide that is the steep slopes of the roof once winter has really set in.

With a sound like a strangled cat, I scrape my hands down the icy tiles, finally finding a use for having bound hands as my hand-warmed bandages melt a little of the ice, then start sticking to the roof, like a tongue to a block of ice or something. I really hope these things are tight.

My feet connect with the guttering, and my stomach starts going numb as I leopard-crawl back up the side of the roof.

"Easy… birdy…"

'_Kyo, please just use the Elementals,_' Shimo begs me mentally. I pause momentarily to turn my head and glare at Yuki, who stands, eyes glowing amber and rugged up in a scarf, down-filled jacket and what looks like three jumpers, with his hands stuffed in his pockets and successfully far-enough back to see what's going on and a blasé expression on his face.

"Don't see _you_ ruddy well helping. Some bloody guardian you are."

"Oh please, love. Even if you did fall, all you'd get was a sore ass. Now, I don't want to have this argument with you right now; there's still a bloody-great bi… branch on the roof."

"Yadda, yadda…" Using Freeze as to create a set of hand holds, then Blaze to keep my hands from falling off, I slide fairly effectively back up to the crest of the roof next to my newest Elemental, and reach out to clutch it's leg. "Gotcha, Flight."

The next thing I know, I'm catapulted off the roof at what feels like the speed of sound, and it feels like my solar-plexus is being used as a punching bag.

I slam into Shimo, his warm arms wrapping protectively around me, and his head ducking instinctively down onto my shoulder as he, in turn, slams backwards into the branches of a tree near the edge of the forest, and tumbles down through the frigid, semi-frozen branches to land with a distinct 'oof!' on the ground.

I roll off the writhing form of my red-haired friend, then turn back to him once I shake the dirt and twigs out of my hair.

"Christ almighty, are you alright?"

"That was…" Shimo rolls over and coughs painfully, "distinctly uncomfortable."

Trust.

As I inspect Shimo for visible injuries – some of his feathers appear to be been ripped out with the fall, and red scratches all over the back of his arms and his back, I vaguely remark about how dirt looks strange on those usually pristine white robes.

"Yes love, I've realised that I'm somewhat dirty. Thanks ever-so for the update."

Shimo raises himself up onto his elbows, and uses the first swear word I've ever heard from him.

"Dear, do you mind giving me a hand?"

A hand wrapped around his elbow, my mind still reeling that Shimo would try and catch me like that, I help my guardian to his feet.

"Oh… dear. Believe I have cracked a rib."

"You… absolute idiot. That was the stupidest thing you've ever done."

Shimo gives me a dry, if not somewhat pained look. "If you keep doing absolutely mindless things like that, I'm going to have to continue doing extremely ill advised things."

"What, now it's my fault that I was shot off the roof like some sort of cannonball?"

"I never said it was your fault," Shimo explains in his usual patient terms, "I merely implied it."

Shimo flashes me an almost-cheeky smirk, then is surrounded by bright light.

I blink, trying to clear the spots from my retinas, then make an interesting noise as Yuki's dead weight lands on my chest.

Yuki blinks sleepily at me from where is head is nestled in my chest. "Oh. You're finished, then?"

I instantly deposit Yuki back on his own damn feet, and give him a once-over for injuries. Just because his uniform his as pristine as usual, and there isn't a hair out of place on his head doesn't mean that his body isn't hurt.

Yuki grabs my hands as I attempt to pat him down for injuries, and tugs me towards him, crushing our lips together.

Only after about a minute of getting thoroughly lost in the moment does he pull back, and lean his forehead against mine.

"Don't go doing that sort of thing unless you really want to get harassed."

And if I do?

Loving how Yuki runs his fingers through the short hair at the back of my neck, I turn my face back up to his, and press us together again.

Another minute of 'us' time.

Another pull back, this time with a sigh. "We're going to be late for school if we don't hurry. Tohru's probably waiting."

I slip my hand into my boyfriend's, and we walk back out of the undergrowth together, and back towards the house.

My father is no where to be seen, but Tohru hands me my jacket, smiles somewhat shakily, though wisely doesn't say a thing.

We head off for school in our usual fashion, with Tohru in the middle, but I have this huge urge to weasel in under Yuki's arm. All previous vows of no necking for the day have been burnt, then scattered to the four winds, and promptly forgotten.

I can't wait to get home.

Azael: I'm sorry if I seem a little harsh to poor Kazuma, but that's what I'd feel like as well. Then again, I'm very bad with trust. Big-ups to all that happen to continue reviewing my story, welcome to all the new ones out there, and a general thanks again to all. You lot make my world go round.


	28. Twentyseven

Az: Well… I suppose there's no excuse for it being soooooooo long since I updated this story… I'm a feckless, sad excuse for a human being, as Shimo might put it…. but I found the inspiration I needed. I reread the Fruits Basket manga, and then read through everything that I've written before, because I really didn't want to leave it where I had. So… Still no excuse, but I'm back, aren't I? ducks behind something solid Just…. Read and review? Please don't kill me…

I wake up in the morning and frown. I want to keep my eyes closed. I need to keep my eyes closed. Maybe if I just refuse to believe my body, I'll wake up later, and everything will be normal again.

Don't get me wrong, I don't usually think this. This is, I hope, a once off occasion. But, the way my life's been going lately, I doubt it.

With a resigned sigh, I open my eyes and sit up to stare at the small lake that my room has become overnight. I raise a hand out of the water that had been tickling my ears, and rub it down my face.

It's depressing when you wake up I the morning to a room that you literally have to wade through and don't start screaming bloody murder. But shit like this has been happening to me too often to genuinely surprise me anymore.

You know, you can also tell it's supernatural when your paper door isn't a sodden mess though your room is filled with water. This was obviously designed to get my goat, in a manner of speaking, otherwise, I would either be drowned by now, or would have woken up ages ago when the water flooded out into other people's rooms.

And in a way, it's all my own bloody fault.

I wade through my room to the door with my hands in the air and nose wrinkled with disgust, then open it.

Sloosh.

Like a small toy soldier down a plughole, my legs are ripped out from under me, and I fall back into the water as it sucks out of my room and into the hallway beyond. I hit the wall an am stuck to it like a bug on flypaper.

"Good morn – Uagh! MY FLOORS!"

At Shigure's anguished cry from the level below, I can tell that the water is going absolutely fucking everywhere, and when the torrent finally reduces to a few puddles in the hallways, I clamber to my feet, soaked bandages and all, and knock on Yuki's door.

"Mhmm?"

Evidently he hasn't noticed the small tidal wave ripping past his door. Bloody typical.

"Yuki, I need to borrow one of your uniforms." I wait a moment before adding: "And your underwear."

The door rips open and my cousin gives me an incredulous once over, notes the water seeping into his room, then sighs. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Don't bloody well ask." I mutter bleakly, pushing past him and heading for his closet.

"Is everything you own _that_ soaked?"

I turn from my ravaging of his closet and stare him in the eyes honestly as I answer: "Yes."

I take one of Yuki's spare uniforms off the hangar, steal a pair of his boxers and stomp into the bathroom to towel off.

A few minutes later I emerge, dryer, but still damp, and wearing a uniform that's slightly too large for my frame.

Poking my head into Yuki's room, I mutter 'thanks' and turn to leave.

"Wait." Yuki commands in tones that are not to be disobeyed, and I pause, "You forgot the tie."

I blink.

"Yes? And?"

He holds up the offending object. "My uniform, you wear it properly."

I pout stubbornly. "As long as Momiji keeps wearing the girls uniform, I'll go without."

Yuki shakes his head stubbornly, looking like the perfect example of a school student, not a crease out of place. "My uniform, my rules."

I stick my lower lip out even further and glare daggers as my cousin calmly ties the piece of material around my neck, then smooths my collar.

"There. That's not so bad, is it?"

It feels like a noose, and I instantly want to tug it off and fling it childishly across the room.

Rubbing salt into the wound, Yuki then says "Don't you look cute," and maybe he notices that I'm about to start yelling again, as he quickly adds: "Come on, we have to find a valid excuse for flooding the house."

Shigure is hunched over the kitchen table, cigarette in one hand, and a mug of coffee in the other. Without looking up he just mutters "Don't even bother. I don't want to know…" and seems to sink further into his own personal pit of gloom.

Yuki and I exchange looks, but just sit down as well.

It's just gonna be one of those days for all of us.

When Tohru, Yuki and I return home from school at the end of the day, almost every single item in my room that isn't bolted down/ waterproof is lying on the front lawn trying to dry in the meagre winter sun.

Thankfully enough, Shigure looks less like he's going to top himself, and sits in the company of Ayame, who is delicately mopping his pale forehead with a designer handkerchief.

Shigure's publisher walks out the front door, calls a goodbye to her client looking like she's been lugging furniture all day (coincidence? I think not), while holding a thick wad of papers clutched to her chest like a lifeline. She glances up to see us, and her face bursts into a smile. She heads straight for me, grips me by the arm and shakes me as she says "THANKYOU" then heads for her car.

That little excursion into the realms of strangeness over, I inspect my stuff like a commander visiting his injured soldiers, then head upstairs to my startlingly bare room.

I sigh and resign myself to setting up a futon on the floor. Behind me, Yuki's footsteps stop, and one of his delicate but strong hands massages one of my shoulders for a moment.

"Do you want to come sleep in my room?"

Raising an eyebrow but deciding it's better not to comment (knowing that comment will end with raising my voice and flapping my arms like a person in a chicken suit trying to take off), I just shake my head.

"Whatever malevolent bastard of an elemental that did this to me in the first place is still out there." Inspiration hits, and I add: "I don't want your room flooding as well."

Wrapping his arms around my waist, my cousin nuzzles my neck. "Do you want me to sleep in here with you? It could be like a campout."

Flushing like a flipping traffic light, I decide to indulge the horny rat for a moment, placing my hands over his and running my thumbs lightly over the backs of his hands. "Tomorrow night, maybe? I want to check something tonight."

I can just tell that Yuki's mentally holding a party as his arms tighten around me.

"Alright, tomorrow night it is."

Damnit, I'm the cat, not him, so why is he the one almost purring?

9.26 PM

And so I'm sitting on the floor of my room. I know I must look like I've lost it (again), because I'm sitting on my futon writing in a notebook, dressed in a singlet, boxers and a lumpy cardigan Kagura knitted me one year for Christmas. Who'da thought that the rejected clothing at the top of my wardrobe would be the only stuff I'd have left to wear? What bloody irony. Everything smells like mothballs, which is adding to the stink in here, since the moisture is doing something horrible to the varnish on the floor boards. So I look like I rooted through a charity bin and came up with the regect leavings, I smell like a wet dog, and I'm sitting in the middle of an empty floor writing feverishly, and next to me it's the sword. No, wait, that bloody deserves capitals. It's not just a sword, it's the title of it as well. It's The Sword.

I'm thinking of pulling an all-nighter. I can probably weasel out of school tomorrow if I act crazy or sick enough tomorrow in front of the dog, and then I can rest after hopefully catching the bastard elemental that seems to insist I learn how to swim. Damn, fucking…

Why do they all seem to have a grudge against me? Seriously. I'm just minding my own damned business, then all of a sudden things blow up, freeze, burn, attack me, or just leave me wishing I was dead. Do I deserve this? Is this some sort of divine punishment? I thought it'd been punished enough.

I close the book, then put that and my pen in a sealable plastic bag, and close it securely. I don't know how it's happened, but that book is precious to me now, and if it gets destroyed, I'll be one pissed off kitty.

…

Hm…

…

Damn I'm bored. I wish I could have brought something to do, but I don't want to run the risk of that getting soaked too.

I check my watch again, hopefully, like maybe an hour might have passed while I was musing. 9.42. Great. It's times like these that I wish again my imagination didn't suck rocks. Or at least that I didn't have a one track imagination. I try to distract myself, and all I start thinking about is tomorrow night. Then my heart starts beating uncomfortably, and I get annoyed at myself for being such a sucker. He's the rat for god's sake, and I swoon like a girl whenever he so much as smirks at me.

I'm sure my cat ancestors are all hissing at me in their graves, but I don't think I care anymore. Yuki's been such a support to me, albeit a reluctant support at first, but now he's closer to me than he's ever been before. It's funny, but I can see myself yelling at him years from now… Fuck, how romantic. You know you love a man, 'cause you can keep the arguments going for years.

I pick up The Sword and inspect the scabbard. I run my hands over the hilt, then draw the blade slowly out, and it catches the light from my ceiling and seems to magnify it into a white brilliance. I carefully run my finger over the blade, then curse and suck my thumb. Fuck it's sharp, it cut me, even through the bandages. I carefully push the blade back into the scabbard, then stare reverentially at it, as the sword sits docilely in my lap, but seems to hum with it's own energy.

It's overwhelming something, to think that my mind created this, that it was all a fluke, but it's all so real and powerful.

My eyes continue to stare at the sword, but my mind drifts, back over the past months.

I hear a faint sound, wings, maybe, buzzing across my ceiling like a large mosquito, then my eyes start to get heavy.

Before you know it I'm …

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck fuckity fuck.

I open my eyes and stare at the water, a few inches away from my nose, as I awake from my slump in the morning. My notepad and pen float cheerily past in their bag, and I stand and hiss at the water. Once again, I must look a right sight. I'm soaked from the shoulders down, and holding my arms away from my body in disgust like I'm about to draw in some Mexican stand-off at high noon. The cardigan is heavy and rivulets of water are dripping from my sleeves and down my thighs constantly.

I just _had_ to fall asleep, didn't it? This is so unfair.

My book bounces off the wall, then floats happily past my wardrobe as I fume.

Right, that's it.

I bend over and pick up The Sword from where it's sitting on the bottom, then hold it above the waterline and glare fiercely at the giant puddle my room has become.

The bag stops floating as ice forms around the corners of my room on the surface, then slowly spreads in. The water I'm standing in gets cooler, and then eventually all is frozen.

There's a few moments when I look hurriedly from left to right for an escape route, then I eventually call out pitifully: "Yuuuuki…. Shiiimo…."

Thank god for paper doors.

I hear someone shift next door, then call out again.

The door to Yuki's room slides slowly open, then heavy footsteps come down the hallways towards me.

My own door slides open with a crunch of breaking ice. I twist as best I can in the ice around my legs just in time to watch Yuki's expression dissolve from shock into hysterical laughter.

"Damn rat! Just help me!"

"hahahahahaHah ha ha…"

Yuki lowers his head for a moment and the laughter putters out. He looks up again, obviously trying to keep a straight face, then starts to giggle again, leaning heavily against my doorframe.

"You thought that one through well, didn't you?" Shimo chuckles, Yuki's eyes flashing amber for a moment.

"Oh, both of you go jump off cliffs!"

I unsheathe The Sword and swing it at the ice, attempting to free myself.

Yuki and Shimo continue to laugh like demented hyenas in the background.

Something inside me snaps. "GOD DAMNIT! Be helpful or leave!"

The laughter continues as I cut my way free.

This bloody elementals won round two, but I _will_ win the war.

Az: Whoo, chapterage. Once again, as I always say, please review, it makes my world go round… and it'll probably make the next chapter come out sooner too… I don't care, review to tell me I'm an aggravating individual and now on your hit list, whatever floats your boat. ' Heh… Don't hate me?


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